Eclipse of the Heart: New Moon
by FadedPhantom
Summary: Xemnas was defeated. The game had been won. Aila was sure that the most difficult times were behind them all. But now, with no moon to light her way, she finds herself stumbling even further down a path she thought she had already reached the end of. Maybe some things are best left in the Dark. SEQUEL. Takes place during Dream Drop Distance and KH3
1. Eve

**This is a sequel to Eclipse of the Heart.**

 **It is a sequel.**

 **SEQUEL.**

 **Do not start here. Thank you!**

We're back :)

Hi again! Thank you so much for returning to this world with me! I'll wait until the end of this chapter to say more~

For now… let's dive in.

* * *

 _A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory._

 _A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream._

 _I want to line the pieces up._

 _Yours._

 _And mine._

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Eve**

Eve had been waiting a long time.

So long, in fact, that she was beginning to wonder if maybe Eraqus had forgotten about her.

The young woman frowned and brushed a strand of her shoulder length sandy-blonde hair away from her face, glancing impatiently around the castle's empty entryway. Should she go searching for him?

" _He hasn't forgotten. He is hoping that you will leave."_

Eve sighed, replying silently to the voice in her head, 'Yes, well, this is our last chance, so I'm not leaving.' She paused. '…I'm going to go find him.'

" _Yes, I think that you should."_

Eve started further into the castle, the heels of her brown sandals clicking in a sure and steady rhythm across the tiled floor, the hem of her soft teal waterfall skirt flowing out behind her. She peered into every room she came across, not entirely sure where she was going, but knowing that, sooner or later, she'd have to come across someone. Eraqus wasn't the only one who lived in this place, despite how abandoned it appeared today. True, the number of people who came to this world to train in the art of the Keyblade had dwindled significantly over the past few decades, but a few still remained.

It was beginning to feel like maybe they'd all switched to training in the art of _hiding_ instead, though…

" _Eraqus was always very good at hiding…"_

'It is a bit annoying, under the circumstances.'

" _It was rather endearing back then. …But yes, now, it is not quite the same…"_

Eve slowed, her too-bright blue eyes closing as she took a moment to try and center herself, and to catch her breath. She swallowed her annoyance – she hadn't even been exerting herself; it was frustrating to feel so winded. She understood why Eraqus didn't want to see her, but… She opened her eyes, gazing sadly down the empty hallway. This was already hard enough. _She_ had accepted it. Why couldn't he? He barely even knew her. They had only met a year ago. He shouldn't care. Not this much.

" _Some scars… do not heal, I'm afraid. You are a reminder of his. He cannot help but care for you."_

'I know. I understand. But… there is no other way. This is what we have to do. I _want_ to do this. For everyone's sake. And I… I'm just not strong enough to keep fighting…'

"… _The Audience Chamber is up ahead. Let's check there."_

Eve nodded and started off again, heading for the large room at the end of the hall. Her steps quieted as she approached, and she found herself holding her breath as she very slowly peaked into the room. Her heart leapt in triumph, and perhaps slight nervousness. There, in one of the chairs at the far end of the room, sat the man she had traveled to this world to see. His head was in his hands, his shoulders hunched in a way that told Eve something quite heavy was weighing on his mind and heart. Eve tried not to feel too guilty about that, even though she was certain that heavy something had everything to do with her presence. But she needed to speak with him. It was now or never.

Taking a steadying breath, Eve straightened her spine and walked into the room, the click of her sandals alerting the man to her presence. He lifted his head, his grey eyes widening in momentary surprise before narrowing into a light glare. His long black hair was pulled into its usual ponytail, a few long strands brushing his right cheek as he sat up a little straighter.

He gripped the armrest of his chair. "Eve. You're still here…"

Eve did not reply until she was standing before him, a serious expression on her own face as she leveled her gaze with his. "Yes, Eraqus. I came a long way to speak with you this morning, and I am not leaving until I have said what I need to."

Eraqus grumbled something that Eve couldn't quite hear before standing, the hem of his white jacket rustling around his knees with the movement. "Apologies, but I am quite busy today." He started down the handful of steps that lead from his elevated sitting place down to the floor below, brushing past Eve without so much as another glance. "Perhaps we can reschedule."

Eve's glare deepened as she turned to watch him pass her. "No, Eraqus. This cannot wait. I need to know if you are going to assist us."

Eraqus continued to walk away. "Let's set a day for next month…"

"We cannot. The plan is moving forward tonight."

That made Eraqus stop dead in his tracks. He turned back toward Eve, a look of horror on his face. "…What?"

Eve straightened her spine a little more. "You heard me. Tonight. So I need your answer now."

Eraqus looked like he was witnessing a tragedy. His face was suddenly ashen, his grey eyes wide with a multitude of emotions. In the blink of an eye he closed the distance to Eve, taking her hands in his own. "You can't be serious…! Tell me you're only trying to force my hand, please!"

Eve's expression softened into a solemn stare. "I am serious. Tonight."

Eraqus shook his head. "I don't understand. I thought we had more time!"

"We do not."

"Why?!"

"Eraqus." Eve locked eyes with the aging man, her voice lowering into just above a whisper. "They've found me."

Eraqus's eyes bulged even more, his breath catching in his throat. "…You're sure?"

"Yes. And you know what that means."

Eraqus bowed his head, his hands shaking as his fingers continued to cling to Eve's. He took a shuddering breath before lifting his head again, his expression desperate. "Then let us do _my_ plan."

Eve frowned. "What plan? To run?"

"Yes!"

"They will still find me. There _is_ nowhere to run to."

"Then _let them come_!" Eraqus bellowed, fire suddenly in his eyes. His grip tightened around Eve's hands to an uncomfortable degree. "Stay here, and I will protect you! I will enlist the other Masters' help – we will _fight_! This time… _thi_ s time…!"

Eve did her best to ignore the discomfort in her fingers. "We will lose."

"You don't know that!"

"Eraqus…" Eve sighed. "Even if we were able to fight them off, more will come. Once they have a target, they will never stop. You know this. And I cannot imagine that everyone fighting alongside us would come out unscathed. I simply can't live with collateral damage on my behalf." She frowned, a great sympathy knitting her brow. "Even if mine is the only life they take, you know what kinds of scars they can leave behind."

Eraqus's grip loosened ever so slightly as his shoulders sagged. "…You are still so young."

"Older than many. Twenty-two is not so young."

"It is."

"Not for someone like me." Eve lifted her hands, which Eraqus still clung to, and placed her palms against the older man's cheeks. "This is the only way. Can't you see that? I do not want anyone else to have to suffer the way you have. The way so many before us have. This is my wish. Please help me fulfill it."

Eraqus leaned into one of her hands, his eyes closing as his face contorted in pain. "Lily, please…"

Eve quickly pulled her hands away from his face, her heart dropping. "I am not Lily, Eraqus. I will never be her."

Eraqus opened his eyes and blinked a few times, searching Eve's face like he was trying to see something, or someone, that wasn't there. His fingers finally released hers and his gaze fell to the floor, his expression darkening. "No. You are not." He turned away again, his shoulders tensing. "And what about you, Celina? Nothing to say?"

Eve allowed herself to mentally pull back, letting the Spirit in her heart take control. "Nothing that will do any good," Celina said through Eve. "Your mind is made up. As is Eve's."

Eraqus turned angrily. "Is it really?! Or are you forcing her into this?!"

Eve's expression remained calm under Celina's influence. Celina continued evenly, "This was her decision. Not mine."

"LIAR!" Eraqus shouted, his voice echoing around the expansive room. "You and those other Spirits, and that _IDIOT_ of a scientist! Your influence has blinded her! Ansem is _despicable_ to be willing to sacrifice so much, and for what?! For a battle you are destined to lose?! To go through with this…!" Eraqus's words died in his throat, as if he were incapable of continuing, his expression one of pure disgust.

"Eve's are not the eyes that have become blinded here."

Eraqus pulled back, looking offended. "Excuse me? You… you have the _audacity_ to imply that I cannot see this whole situation clearly? Me?"

"Yes."

Anger flashed in Eraqus's eyes. "How dare you. Your heart may be hardened to this, but mine is not. You could never understand the pain I feel every day, the pain that drives me to walk the path that I _know_ Lily wanted me to follow! To spread the Light to the worlds in her name! You should be doing the same! But I suppose she is merely one of thousands to you, is that right?! You can no longer feel the loss that I am burdened with, that _you_ left me with! Some of us only have ONE life!"

Eve could feel a sting in Celina's heart at that, but Eve did not take control back just yet. Celina continued, quietly, "The pain is almost unbearable for you, even after all this time."

"Of course it is!"

"Agonizing. Unfathomable. Perhaps even… _blinding_."

Eraqus blinked, shocked, but then anger washed over him again, so intense that Eve could almost taste it in the air between them. Eraqus clenched his fists, his voice dangerously low. "Get off of my world. Now. You are no longer welcome here."

Eve finally took control again, a pit growing in her stomach. "Eraqus—!"

"LEAVE!" Eraqus bellowed, his grey eyes hard. His jaw clenched as he locked eyes with Eve. "If this is your choice, so be it. But I will not help you. That is my final answer. Your failure will only invite more Darkness into our worlds; Darkness that I will need to eradicate."

Eve took a step forward desperately. "Well then if you and the other Keybladers were to help us, perhaps we would succeed and—!"

"Impossible," Eraqus spat. He turned away once again, his shoulders shaking with his barely contained rage. "Celina is a fool, and so are you. You're right – you could never be the woman I remember. She was nothing like _you_. I will keep her Light alive no matter what… even if you will not. Goodbye, Eve."

With that, he made his way out of the room, the rough click of his shoes on the tiles sounding very much to Eve like nails being hammered into a coffin. Whose coffin, she couldn't say. Her own? Or maybe it was his… She reached out a hand, considering calling out to him one last time, but instead just let her hand fall. Like Celina said, his mind was made up. There was nothing left to say.

Whispering caught her attention, and Eve cocked her head curiously toward another exit to her left, listening intently.

"Terra, careful, they'll notice you!"

"I think the Master left, I'm just trying to see…"

Eve backed up a few steps to more easily see into the hallway, her eyes locking with two sets of young teens'. She smirked. Ah, so here Aqua and Terra were.

Aqua, the young girl, immediately bowed, her light blue hair falling into her face. "We're so sorry, Miss Eve. We didn't mean to listen in…!"

Terra, the young brunette boy, rubbed his arm a bit sheepishly. "Y-yeah, uh, we were just looking for the Master and, um, well… we didn't think we should interrupt…"

Eve smiled. She was quite fond of these two, though they'd only met a handful of times. They were starting to look a bit less like children now, though only just barely. Terra was getting taller by the day, his features slowly defining into something more adult than he had been the first time they'd met. Aqua too, though she was a bit younger than the boy. Eve secretly hoped they'd stay children a bit longer – growing up came much too quickly, didn't it? Or had that only been Eve's own experience…? She clasped her hands behind her back, her expression very kind. "It's alright. How much did you hear?"

"Only the end," Aqua insisted, straightening up and looking very embarrassed. "From around when, um, the Master started yelling…"

Eve looked up at the ceiling, her smile falling immediately. "Ah."

"He… didn't mean it." Eve tore her gaze away from the ceiling to see that Terra had stepped forward a bit, his blue eyes earnest as he continued, "The stuff he said. He… he thinks very highly of you, Miss Eve."

Eve's expression softened, her lips tweaking up ever so slightly into a sad smile. "I think… he maybe only thinks so highly of me by accident…"

Aqua and Terra exchanged a confused look. "What's that mean?" Terra asked.

Eve shook her head. "Never mind. It's nothing. Too complicated to get into right now."

"He calls you Lily sometimes," Aqua said very softly, as if she were hesitant to even voice such an observation. "Is… is that what you mean? Do you… look like someone he cared about?"

Eve glanced away sadly. "…Our eyes are the same. It confuses him, sometimes."

"The Master is a good person," Terra said sincerely. "If you need his help, he'll help you. Eventually, I know he will."

Eve smiled, locking eyes with the young boy. "Yes, I hope so."

"Can we do anything?" Aqua asked.

Eve shook her head. "Just continue your training. Like you said, Master Eraqus is a good person. You two will be fine Masters one day, just like he is." Aqua and Terra beamed proudly. Eve paused for a moment before reconsidering her answer and approaching the young teens, kneeling down before them. "Actually, there may be one thing you can both do."

"Anything," Terra said immediately, his chest puffing out dutifully. Aqua nodded at his side.

Eve smiled, and then sighed. "...Don't let your Master go astray. I worry about him, sometimes… He means so well. And he is very wise, and kind. But sometimes we are so focused on one truth that we cannot see any other way to live. And that could be problematic, down the line… He is afraid of what he does not understand…"

Aqua and Terra looked very confused again. "You don't have to worry about him going astray, Miss Eve," Aqua said. "He would never allow any Darkness to touch him."

"I'm not talking about the kind of Darkness you're thinking of," Eve replied gently. At the kids' befuddled expressions, she continued. "You must understand that Darkness is half of everything. It may not be very pleasant, but completely turning away from half of everything can have its own pitfalls. And the harder you try to force it out, the harder it will work to break back in. The most damaging evils often dress like angels, not devils."

Aqua still looked confused, but Terra seemed to be following. "So, Darkness… isn't always bad, then?"

"Not always. And it will always be necessary. The trick is to recognize when Darkness is being used to manipulate and destroy, verses when it can be used to assist the good we all strive to maintain." Eve held out her hand, summoning a bit of white Light to her fingertips. "After all…" She smiled. "Light shines brightest in the dark, doesn't it? So in times of struggle, Darkness can help us all shine a little brighter. It's all about balance. Just… make sure your Master continues to shine. Make sure he doesn't burn."

Aqua and Terra smiled back at her, Terra nodding vigorously as Aqua replied, "Okay, Miss Eve. We understand. We'll watch over the Master. We'll help him in any way we can."

Eve let her Light fade. "Thank you." She stood.

"Are you going?" Terra asked, the longest little spike of brown hair at the top of his head jostling as he posed the question.

Eve nodded, her expression suddenly rather sad. "I am."

"Will you be back soon?"

Eve hesitated. "No… No, I don't think I will be." She locked eyes with the two children once more, smiling warmly. "But even if it takes quite a while… if we should meet again someday, I would very much like it if we could fight side by side. When you're both Keyblade Masters. Would that be okay with you?"

Aqua beamed, and Terra pumped a fist, his answer bright and full of hope. "Yes! We will fight with you! Definitely!"

Eve nodded, smiling even more. "It's a promise, then. I'll look forward to it."

A bell rang in a tower, and both Aqua and Terra startled. "Ah!" Aqua gasped. "I'm sorry, Miss Eve, but we have to go!"

Eve held up her hands. "Please, don't let me keep you. Go – train hard."

"Yes, Miss Eve! Thank you!" Terra replied before dashing off down the hall.

Aqua made to follow him, but then paused to glance over her shoulder. "…Please don't stay away for too long, Miss Eve. The Master really does care about you. And… and I would be sad not to see you anymore."

Eve smiled, hoping her expression didn't appear as hollow as it felt. "I will try not to."

Aqua smiled back and then ran after Terra, disappearing around the corner and leaving Eve alone in the Audience Chamber.

Eve's smile fell, and she bowed her head. Despair threatened to overtake her, but only for a moment before she pulled herself together again.

"… _There is still time to back out…"_

"No," Eve replied aloud, her voice just above a whisper. "Everything is already in motion. Cyrus has begun the next phase. And like we told Eraqus, there's nowhere to run, and I…" She straightened her spine, ignoring the ache in her lungs. It had become so constant lately; no more good days, only bearable ones. "This is my wish. To help you save them. To give them the very best chance they can have. And… to save _you_ , my closest friend." She placed her hand over her heart. "…Just promise me you will not abandon this plan, Celina, please. I don't want my life to have been for nothing. Help her. Whoever she becomes. Give her everything she needs for me. Together, you can win. I know it. I can't offer any physical help, but maybe, through you… Please give her all the strength I have left."

" _I promise… Eve."_

Eve nodded and held out a hand, a portal of white Light forming before her. She took one last look around at this room, allowing herself one more moment on this world. Someday, maybe her eyes would see this room again. She hoped that they would, and that the next time Eraqus saw those eyes, his own vision would be clearer. She knew how dangerous unfiltered Light could become, especially for damaged hearts, and he had thrown himself so deeply into it in his grief. Someday, she hoped his heart would finally find some reprieve from its scars.

Steeling herself, Eve walked into the portal, allowing the Light to engulf her, walking willingly toward the Darkness she knew she was destined to embrace and repeating her mantra in her mind over and over and over again:

'Light shines brightest in the dark.'

 ** _-Sixteen Years Later-_**

Master Yen Sid stood at the moon-shaped window in his study, gazing out into the stars beyond with a very troubled expression on his face. A star flickered in the distance, and his frown deepened.

"Master Yen Sid, I just… I'm sorry, but I wanna make sure we're being safe here."

Yen Sid turned, eying his former apprentice with critical understanding. "I know, my friend. But you cannot deny her the path she was chosen for. Nor any of them. It may well be dangerous, but we cannot reverse what has already been set in motion."

Mickey balled his fists, glaring at the ground. "They're just kids…"

"I know."

"They didn't ask for any of this."

"I know."

Mickey sighed, his expression smoothing into something more forlorn. "If I had realized back then, I would have tried to… well, gosh, I don't know. But it seems like there musta been something we coulda done."

Master Yen Sid took his seat at his desk, one hand trailing down his long beard as he thought. "I'm not sure that there ever was. The only thing to do is to make sure they succeed. And to do that, they need to be ready to fight back."

Mickey rubbed his eyes. He seemed tired. Yen Sid wondered briefly how much sleep his friend had been getting as of late.

At last Mickey looked up again, a new determination in his eyes, and Yen Sid knew the King was about to change the subject to something perhaps a bit more hopeful. "I think we're finally close to figuring out where Ven's heart is."

Yen Sid stroked his beard a few more times. "Is that so? Then that leaves only Terra."

Mickey nodded, gesturing with confidence. "Right! And we've gotta save all three of 'em!"

"Hmm," Yen Sid sighed. Mickey clearly seemed to think the task he was describing would be simple once they had all the pieces of the puzzle. But there was still one piece that the King had yet to take into account. "The question is," Yen Sid continued, knowing that the time had come to reveal that missing piece to his friend, "what does Xehanort intend to do next?"

"Xehanort?" Mickey asked, confusion knitting his brows together. "But his two halves are gone. There was Ansem, who commanded the Heartless, and Xemnas, who commanded the Nobodies. Didn't Sora defeat them both?"

"Correct. Those two met their end." Yen Sid stopped stroking his beard at last, a grave expression settling on his face. "However, therein lies exactly our problem. Their destruction now guarantees the original Xehanort's reconstruction."

Mickey wasn't following. "Huh?"

So Yen Sid continued, stroking his beard once again. "Xehanort's heart, once seized by his Heartless half, is now free. And his body, which had become his Nobody, has been vanquished. Both halves will now be returned to the whole. In short, this means Master Xehanort will return."

Mickey's eyes widened. "And you think… You think that maybe he's gonna try something?"

"A man like Xehanort will have left many roads open," Yen Sid replied.

Mickey thought for a second. "Well… It doesn't matter what he cooks up. Me and Sora, we'll be ready. And Riku, too!"

Ah yes, the boys. "Yes, they are indeed strong, but not true Keyblade Masters like you." Yen Sid's hand stilled on his beard a second time. "Tell me… Would a single one of you suffice if what you faced was not a single one of him…?"

Mickey's mouth fell open and he threw his hands down on the desk in shock as the implications of Yen Sid's question hit him full force. "What?! What do you mean?!"

Rather than provide an answer, Yen Sid placed both of his hands gently on the desk's surface as well. "Mickey. Please summon Sora hither. Riku as well."

Mickey pulled back and blinked. "Of course, but… why?"

A solemn expression settled on Yen Sid's face. "To show us the Mark of Mastery."

Mickey's eyes widened a fraction and he nodded in understanding. "Ah… I see. Well, they'll pass for sure!"

Yen Sid sat back in his chair. "Perhaps." He set his eyes seriously on his former apprentice. "Summon Aila, Donald, and Goofy as well. We will need to test the waters."

Mickey looked away, seeming unsure about that part. After a few moments of thought, he faced Yen Sid fully again. "And Danny and Alex…?"

"Not yet." Yen Sid did not elaborate, and knew that Mickey would not ask him to.

Mickey sighed. "Right. …You'll give her a choice though, won't you?"

Yen Sid nodded. "Of course. But you and I both know what that choice will be. Her heart will not allow her to do anything else, regardless of the dangers this path invites."

Mickey hesitated, but finally relented. "Yeah. Okay. I'll bring everyone here tomorrow."

Yen Sid dipped his chin. "Very well." He noted the deep furrow of his friend's brow. "Their hearts are strong. Have faith, Mickey. We cannot win without faith in our friends."

Mickey managed a faint smile. "You're right. They _are_ strong. We'll finish this. Together."

KHKHKHKHKH

AHHH! WE HAVE BEGUN!

I cannot believe the day has finally come to begin this new story! I have so much planned! I'm slightly concerned about KH3 ruining some of my plans when it comes out in three months… BUT! I couldn't wait any longer to get started! Cross your fingers with me that everything I have is able to line up with the real story! We'll take this one chapter at a time! I had like no plan last time and that all worked out fine so I'm sure it'll all work out again XD It feels kind of weird to have a semi outline this time tbh, even without the game that will take up a majority of this story to guide me yet XD

I am going to try, for at least these first chapters, to stick to a TWO WEEK update schedule. I already have a few chapters ready to go, but don't want to post too fast because… I literally cannot continue writing past a certain point until I play KH3. Lol. So… yeah. Hopefully this will be okay for you all!

Please sign up for story alerts for this new story and leave a review to let me know your first impressions :) I am super excited to hear your thoughts! Love you all! Thank you so much for reading such a long saga, you're all amazing. Aila will be in the next chapter~

Also haha don't get used to such short (lol or regular length) chapters, this is basically a prologue so it's a bit shorter. Chapters will get long real quick. Sorry if you hate that, but at this point you should know better than to expect anything else from me XD

OH ALSO **if any of you made FANART after the final chapter of the original story** was posted and would like me to share it in one of these updates, can you please resend it to me so I remember who I haven't shared yet? Thank you~! Love you all!

Here's to a new adventure! Let's go!

~Fade


	2. New Game

Oh my gosh, you guys. The response for the first chapter was amazing. Reading all your reviews made me so happy, and seeing how many people are _already_ following this story is just awesome. Thank you so much to each and every one of you!

Now then, before we get started, fanart! I've got some lovely renders from Kristen Verne that you should check out~ (Psst they're also a great reminder of Aila's current outfit, in case you forgot over the break)

deviantart (dotcom) /kristenkhverne/ art/ WIP-738870417

deviantart (dotcom) /kristenkhverne/ art/ First-Encounters-744024932

deviantart (dotcom) /kristenkhverne/ art/ Missing-You-750254458

As always, please replace (dotcom) with the actual thing and remove the spaces. The last one is especially so beautiful and sad! Thank you again for making these, Kristen!

Again, if you made art that I have not yet shared due to the break between stories, please feel free to send the link to me again and I'll include it in a future update~

I think that's all I had to say up here, so… enjoy!

* * *

" _And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings."_

― Meister Eckhart

* * *

 **Chapter 2: New Game**

Sora threw open the door to the Gummi Hangar, squinting a little as sunlight shocked into his ocean blue eyes. He grinned, breathing in the familiar town's crisp air. "Radiant Garden! Finally, we made it!"

He yelped as he was pushed out of the way, catching his balance before he could face plant onto the stone pavement and turning to glare at the one who'd so rudely shoved him. Donald just smirked from the doorway. "Don't block the exit. And the trip from your Islands to this world wasn't _that_ long, don't be so dramatic."

Sora rolled his eyes. "'Don't do this, don't do that.' You're as bossy as ever; it's like we never spent any time apart at all."

"Ahyuck! It does feel like that, don't it?" Goofy laughed, following Donald out of the Gummi Hangar. "I guess it's only been a few weeks since we saw each other, though."

Sora grinned. "Hey, that's a long time to me!"

"Seriously," Riku grumbled, he and the King filing out of the Hangar as well, Mickey shutting the door behind them. "You should have heard Sora whining about how long it was taking for you guys to come back."

Sora rolled his eyes. "I wasn't _whining_. But I knew Master Yen Sid wanted to see us eventually, and I was getting antsy!"

Mickey chuckled. "Master Yen Sid was gettin' a few things in order, that's all. But now he's ready to see you all."

Sora pumped a fist. "Awesome! Let's go then!"

"We gotta get our last passenger," Donald scolded, brushing past Sora. "Or do you want me to tell Aila you tried to leave her behind?"

Sora made a face. "Are you trying to make _every_ girl we know mad at me?"

Riku chuckled as their group started following Donald into town. "Kairi wasn't mad…"

" _Yeah_ , she was," Sora retorted, frowning. "She just didn't want us to feel bad. But she wanted to come."

"Sorry about that, fellas," Mickey apologized. "You know I would've liked to have her come along, but Master Yen Sid was very specific about who he wanted to see."

"Yeahhh," Sora sighed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He really hated that Kairi was upset – he wanted her to be happy, always. He glanced at Riku. "We _really_ can't leave her behind next time we go anywhere though. We promised we'd stay together, right?"

Riku smiled. "Yeah. Don't worry, we'll all be together again before you know it, okay?" Sora sighed, but nodded all the same. No use dwelling on it now – Riku was right, they'd be home again soon. Riku glanced around the town, looking impressed. "Huh. This place is looking good."

"It sure is!" Goofy agreed, smiling as he glanced around at all the shops. There were many more open than there had been last time they'd visited, with all the buildings looking much more put together. Not only that, but it seemed the town had begun adding some aesthetic touches as well, various fountains either in the process of being built or already up and running throughout the square. People were milling about both inside and outside of the shops, talking and laughing in a much more relaxed manner than they had been during the boys' previous visits. Sora grinned again. The Restoration Committee seemed like it was doing a great job!

"Hiya, Uncle Donald!"

The group turned to see Huey, Dewey, and Louie waving enthusiastically at them from their usual shop.

"Hi there, boys!" Donald greeted back as he and the rest of the group walked up to the shop. "How's business?"

"It's okay," Huey sighed, resting his beak in his palm as he leaned forward over the counter. "People don't need as many potions around here as they used to, though, so we're tryin' to expand our inventory."

"That's great!" Sora said. He caught himself. "Uh, I mean, it's great that people aren't getting hurt as much, not that your business is suffering…"

Dewey smirked. "Ehh, it's fine. Like Uncle Scrooge always says…"

The three brothers chorused together, "A successful business is an ever evolving business!"

Louie hopped clear over the counter and toward the group excitedly, startling them all a little. "BUT if _you_ guys need potions and stuff, you know we've got you covered! You on another adventure or what?"

Goofy chuckled. "Not really. We're just headin' to a meetin'."

Louie deflated a little. "Oh. Boring."

Donald rolled his eyes. "It's _nice_ to not be on the way to a fight sometimes, you know."

"Who're you meeting with?" Huey asked. "Leon?"

Sora shook his head. "No, we're going somewhere else. We're just here to pick up Aila."

The triplets groaned. Dewey crossed his arms with a huff. "You guys have the worst timing! We've got a huge scare planned for her, and _now_ you're taking her away again?"

Riku's lips twitched as he tried to suppress a smile. "Why are you going to scare her…?"

The triplets grinned. "Because it's hilarious!"

Goofy and Sora chuckled while Donald shook his head, mumbling, "I guess some things around here haven't changed at all…"

"She's a lot harder to scare now though," Huey said, his eyes narrowing seriously. "We've had to really up our game. It's annoying." He perked up. "But it can still be done, with enough planning!"

Mickey looked amused. "You boys wouldn't happen to know where she'd be right now, would you?"

The triplets exchanged a look. "Hmm, what time is it?" Dewey asked. "Like noon?"

Louie nodded and then turned back to the group. "She's probably at Merlin's? Unless she's helping Cid. Or training with Yuffie. Or on patrol. Or at home. One of those."

Donald frowned. "So, she could be anywhere."

The triplets exchanged another glance and then grinned, nodding. "Yep!"

Donald sighed. "You're no help."

"If you find her, DON'T tell her about our scare plans!" Huey warned, glaring hard at the group. "We'll just have to do it when she comes back, so don't ruin it!"

"Sure, sure," Sora chuckled. "She's gonna accidentally attack you all one of these days if you're not careful though…"

Huey and Louie laughed, Dewey suddenly looking a little grumpy. "Oh, she already has," Louie said between laughs. "She blasted Dewey into the big new fountain at the town's entrance because she thought he was a Heartless! Ha ha! It was sooo funny!"

Dewey huffed. "It wasn't _that_ funny…"

"Welp, good seein' ya boys! Stay outta trouble!" Goofy said with a smile and a wave.

"We will!" the triplets replied, scurrying back into their shop as the group began to make their way toward the stairs.

Sora chuckled to himself, hands behind his head as he started down the staircase. "Is it bad that I _kinda_ wanna see their scare plan?"

Donald snickered. "We should tell them to just get Aila to Halloween Town, she's extra jumpy there. And I bet Jack would help them."

Sora laughed. "Oh yeah, Jack would be so excited!"

Goofy put a finger to his chin. "Uh, should we really be _helpin'_ 'em scare her?"

Sora waved a hand dismissively. "Aw, it's all in fun."

Riku hummed thoughtfully. "I'm starting to wonder if Aila will actually _want_ to go anywhere with you guys again…"

Sora smirked cheekily. "Oh please, she loves us! After all, who couldn't love these smiling faces?!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy all immediately grinned as wide as they could. Riku chuckled.

Donald ran up to Merlin's front door as they approached his house, rapping his knuckles quickly on the door just two times before swinging it open. "Hellooo! Anybody home?" A pleasant aroma of meats and vegetables hit Sora as he crossed the threshold. Ooh, it _was_ lunchtime, wasn't it…?

It turned out that, yes, a lot of people were home. Cid and Leon were the first to turn around, having been discussing something or another at the computer at the far side of the room. "Well, well, well!" Cid said, his chair creaking a little as he leaned back, a grin pulling at his lips as he shifted the toothpick between his teeth from one side of his mouth to the other. "This is a surprise!"

Leon smirked. "Welcome back." He noticed Mickey and dipped is head respectfully. "Your Majesty." Mickey smiled and held up a hand, indicating there was no need to be so formal.

"Is that who I think it is?!" Yuffie called from the other side of one of the bookshelves. The ninja rushed out into the entrance of the house excitedly, a plate of food in one hand. "Hey guys! Good timing! Come on in, grab some food!"

Aerith emerged from behind the bookshelves as well, a plate of food in each of her hands. She smiled and shook her head, slightly exasperated. "Yuffie, you should really ask Merlin before you volunteer to give all his food away…"

"Yes she should!" Merlin replied hotly from the other side of the bookshelves. Sora and his group startled as Merlin suddenly appeared before them, a twinkle in his eye as he gave them a kind wink. "Luckily, when you're a wizard, there's always enough for everyone. Please help yourselves, lads."

"Did you really have to teleport such a short distance, you crazy old man…?" Cid muttered as Aerith made her way over to him and Leon, passing off the plates she held to each of them. They thanked her and she turned back toward Sora's group, smiling and waving a little now that her hands were free.

"Pfft, this lunch is for Restoration Committee Members, and they're Honorary Members!" Yuffie argued, making her way over to a small table on the right side of the room and kicking out a chair to sit in. She cast a secondary look at Riku as she sat, raising an eyebrow. "Well, most of them, anyway."

"Oh, right," Sora said, realizing that Riku maybe didn't know any of these people yet. He grinned and thumbed in his best friend's direction. "This is my friend Riku! Riku, this is the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee."

"Ohh, so this is the famous Riku," Cid said, leaning forward a little as he looked Riku over. "Finally got tracked down by these guys, huh? I feel like all we heard for a year was 'Have you seen my friend Riku?' and 'We almost found Riku but then we didn't!'"

Riku smirked and shrugged a little. "Yeah, in the end I just couldn't shake them."

Donald was looking longingly in the direction the food was presumably in, but seemed to be holding himself back for the moment. Sora couldn't say he blamed him – the food smelled _really_ good. But they should probably figure out where Aila was first. Speaking of which…

"So what brings you boys here today?" Cid asked, taking a bite of what looked like maybe some steak. Leon had made his way over to the table Yuffie was sitting at, taking a seat across from her so he could eat a little more easily.

"There's no trouble, I hope," Aerith said, furrowing her brow ever so slightly in worry.

"Nah, we're just here to get Aila," Sora said with an easy shrug.

Mickey nodded, elaborating. "Master Yen Sid asked to see the five of them."

"Ooh, sounds important," Yuffie mused before sticking her fork in her mouth and sucking on it a little, already done with her lunch. Sora quirked a brow, his lips twitching in slight amusement. Wow, she ate fast.

"Ah, that's right, Aila mentioned that he might want to see you all soon," Merlin mused, stroking his beard thoughtfully. He shot a knowing look at the King. "So, there _may_ be trouble after all…"

Mickey sighed. "Well… we'll have to see what Master Yen Sid has to say." He looked like he knew more than he was letting on, but Sora had learned not to bother asking the King to elaborate on stuff like this. They'd get filled in at Yen Sid's. Sora couldn't really imagine how it could be anything worse than the Organization though, so he wasn't very worried.

"So uh, where _is_ Aila?" Sora asked, taking another look around the room like maybe he'd just missed her. It was kinda weird that the whole Committee was here except for her, wasn't it?

"We gave her the day off," Leon said, tapping his plate idly with his fork.

"So, she's not here," Donald translated, sounding a little disgruntled. "Of course she isn't."

"Hang on, lemme see if she's got her com on," Cid said, wiping a hand on his pants and then pressing a finger to his ear. "Aila, kid, you reading me?" He paused for a second. "If you answer now, I'll give you five million munny!" He paused again, listening. He let his hand fall and shrugged. "Nope."

"I told her to have that on at all times," Yuffie grumbled, kicking her feet up on the table with a very disapproving look on her face.

"Well it wouldn't be much of a day off if she was on call with it on," Aerith pointed out.

Yuffie threw her hands in the air, exasperated. "Well she doesn't keep it on during her days _on_ either!" Merlin smacked her feet off his table, glaring deeply at her. She grinned back sheepishly.

"You're the one who gave her the headphones," Leon replied evenly. "Those are practically glued to her now, and she can't wear the com at the same time."

"Headphones?" Goofy asked, cocking his head.

Cid nodded. "She's been listenin' to a lot of music lately. Spent a week downloadin' every song she could get her hands on! With Tron's help – guess he had a lot stored away in his systems. Now she's got these headphones Yuffie dug up for her on her head practically every second of the day."

Aerith frowned and responded gently, "You know why she's doing that, though."

Aerith's tone was… weirdly sad. Sora exchanged a baffled look with Donald and Goofy. Was listening to music a bad thing?

"Why's that?" Donald asked.

The Restoration Committee members shared a worried look before Leon spoke up. "…She says it makes her mind feel less… 'suffocatingly quiet'. Her words. I assume you all know why."

Sora shot Riku an alarmed look. Riku frowned deeply.

"So," Riku replied. "Celina's still M-I-A."

The Committee members nodded. Sora fought hard not to let the intense worry that was suddenly sitting in the pit of his stomach bleed up onto his face. The final fight that he, Riku, and Aila had had with Xemnas played back in his mind, the memory of Celina taking Aila's unconscious form away feeling extra chilling. Aila had looked so lost when they'd finally found her again deep in the Dark Realm, alone. Celina was _still_ not saying anything? Sora had been so sure that her disappearance had been temporary… He frowned. Aila and Celina had become very close over the last few months of their travels. If Celina was still nowhere to be found, he could imagine that her absence was starting to really burden his friend.

Merlin sighed. "It is troubling, to be sure. When Aila first returned here she attempted to go through as much information in Ansem's office as she could find, but I'm afraid there wasn't a lot…"

"She's been focusing on helping with repairing the town," Aerith continued. "Like the rest of us have been. But she wasn't taking any time to herself, so we kind of… forced her to take some time off today."

"She's trying to stay distracted," Leon mumbled. "She seemed really sure she was going to find answers in Ansem's office, and when she didn't… I think it disheartened her."

Mickey's ears drooped a little, the group exchanging a few more worried looks. Donald, Goofy, and Mickey had told Sora and Riku that Aila had decided to come back to Radiant Garden to help the Committee out with repairs, while Danny and Alex had gone to visit Twilight Town for a while together so Danny could see his friends there. It had sounded like they were all doing okay, but maybe that hadn't been entirely true. Maybe they'd actually just become restless at Disney Castle and had left for other reasons…? Danny was good at hiding how he was feeling, and despite Aila's seeming belief that she wore her heart on her sleeve, she was pretty good at hiding stuff too. Sora bit the inside of his cheek.

"Anyway, I guess we should try and figure out where she is for you all, huh?" Cid said, obviously trying to change the subject. He seemed uncomfortable. Sora got the impression that he didn't like thinking that Aila maybe wasn't entirely happy here.

"I know where she is," Yuffie said, suddenly looking rather mischievous. "She's at the bakery."

Cid made a sound of annoyance. "Oh, here we go again…"

Yuffie grinned. "What?"

"Stop trying to marry her off!"

Yuffie chuckled. "I'm not! She's the one with a crush!"

Sora quirked a brow. Aila had a crush? He, Donald, and Goofy had always _kind of_ suspected she'd had a crush on Demyx, despite her vehement insistence that they hadn't been more than friends, but other than that she hadn't seemed to show any particular interest in anyone, at least while she'd been traveling with them.

Cid stood up from his chair, looking like his head was about to explode. "She's not allowed to date anybody until she's thirty!"

Leon grumbled, not really _disagreeing_ with that statement, but not full on agreeing with it either.

Mickey coughed, clearly trying to hide a chuckle. Sora smirked, making a mental note to scout this bakery guy out, just in case Yuffie was actually onto something. You know, to make sure Aila wasn't slumming it with someone who didn't deserve her time. She had… weird taste in people, sometimes.

"Oh Yuffie, they're just friends," Aerith sighed, smiling as she rolled her eyes. "You've thought she's liked three different guys since she got back here."

Cid glared. "Yeah, and you've been wrong every time! I swear, Aila interacts with anyone and you're sending out wedding invitations! She's only fifteen!"

Yuffie smirked, holding up her hands as she shrugged. "Hey, I call 'em like I see 'em."

"Well you should get your eyes checked!"

Yuffie brushed her bangs out of her face with a cocky air. "Don't worry, I've been teaching her self defense moves to fight off all the guys that will inevitably be making moves on her soon."

Cid looked like he was about to blow a fuse. His face was even turning a little purple. "She won't need self defense moves 'cuz I will personally KILL ANY IDIOT WHO COMES NEAR HER!But it doesn't matter, because she ISN'T DATING ANYONE!"

Sora stifled a laugh, everyone else in the visiting group looking highly amused at this point. Sora had the strangest suspicion that Aila _hadn't_ told these guys about her kiss with Demyx last year. He couldn't possibly _imagine_ why! They seemed totally reasonable and not nosy or about to fly off the handle at the mention of any romantic interests she might have at all!

Yuffie grinned at the fuming Cid, clearly enjoying how riled up he was getting. "C'mon, Cid, she's growing up and is totally a cutie! Sooner or later some lucky guy might sweep her off her feet and…"

"Shut up shut up SHUT UP!" Cid bellowed, throwing his half eaten lunch at Yuffie's head. She deftly dodged, cackling as the plate of food splattered all over the wall.

Merlin was on Cid in an instant, his expression livid. "Do not _throw food in other people's houses!_ "

Cid held up his hands nervously. "Hey, sorry, sorry! She started it!"

"I don't care who started it! I swear, sometimes it's hard to tell who's really the child around here; Aila often has more maturity than the two of you combined!"

Yuffie snickered before returning her attention back to Sora and co. "Anyway, I'd bet munny she's there."

"But in the event that she isn't," Aerith said, one hand on her hip, "it will probably save time if you just wait for her here. She should be stopping by soon, even if she _is_ supposed to be taking the day to herself. In the meantime, please, eat."

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Riku all looked to King Mickey to try and gauge what he wanted to do. Master Yen Sid had wanted to see them as soon as possible, but having lunch seemed way more appealing than going on a wild goose chase right now. Even if Aila _was_ at the bakery, they could very easily miss her if she left before they got there. Mickey thought for a second, and then nodded. "Okay. We hafta eat anyway, right? If she doesn't come by, we'll go find her after lunch."

Sora pumped a fist. "Yes!"

Donald immediately dashed off toward the food, Sora's most feathery friend looking very greedy as he snatched up a plate and began loading it with anything and everything. Sora followed his lead, internally cheering. Free food was the best perk of traveling, after all. Other than making cool new friends. Scratch that, the best perk was when he could eat awesome free food _with_ new friends! Oh man, his life was fun.

Leon approached the food table as well, apparently getting seconds. "Hopefully Aila doesn't keep you waiting too long…"

"She can take her time, we've got food to eat now," Donald said, loading his already full plate even higher. Mickey shook his head and sighed.

"Well whatever she's doin', I hope she's havin' a nice day off!" Goofy said with a smile.

KHKHKHKH

Aila drummed her fingers impatiently along the wooden table she sat at, intently watching the boy on the other side of the bakery counter. He paused to brush some straw colored hair away from his eyes before returning his attention back to the pan he was working over, the beautiful aroma of the fresh pastries he was making filling the shop. If she could just catch his eye…

"…and then he said, 'Poker? I hardly know her!' Haha! Get it?!"

"Boo."

"I agree with Paine. That was your worst joke yet."

Aila tore her eyes away from the boy to smile at the little pixies atop her table. "I liked it!"

Rikku, the blonde pixie, beamed. "SEE? Aila has good taste in jokes."

Paine rolled her red eyes, running a hand through her short grey hair. "Aila has _bad_ taste in jokes."

Aila pouted. "What do you mean? I find almost everything funny!"

"Exactly."

Yuna, the brunette of the group, leveled Aila with a knowing look. "Do you like the joke because you understand it, or just because it rhymed? It's kind of a dirty joke, you know."

Aila blinked, confused by that. Was the joke not about poker…? "…It is?"

Rikku giggled behind her hand while Paine rolled her eyes and muttered, "See? Her opinion means nothing here."

Yuna chuckled. "At least you're a good audience, Aila."

"Order for Aila!"

Aila bolted to her feet and rushed to the counter, ecstatic that her order was finally done. The blond boy behind the counter chuckled. "Sorry for the wait, the pan wasn't wanting to heat up all the way for some reason…"

"It's okay!" Aila replied, taking the bag he held out to her with barely restrained excitement. She could feel the warmth of the pastries even through the paper.

The boy's amber eyes crinkled with his smile. "I put an extra one in there since it took longer than usual."

Aila's eyes widened and she peered into the bag. Seven instead of six! Oh my gosh, best day ever. "Thanks, Cailan! You're the best!"

Cailan smirked. "Well I'd hate to upset our best customer. Don't think I can't feel you trying to stare a hole into the back of my head whenever I take longer than a minute or two… You know making eye contact with me won't make me go any faster, right?"

Aila chuckled sheepishly. "Well it's worth a shot, right? Hm, I guess I have been coming in a lot, huh…?"

Cailan shrugged. "Hey, no complaints here. It's nice seeing someone closer to my age every day." Cailan was seventeen, just two years older than Aila. When Aila had first arrived on this world six months ago she had been one of the only people below twenty years old within the town, so it was kind of cool to know another teenager in the area now.

Aila closed the bag again. "Tell me about it! But more and more kids are showing up, so that's good."

Cailan smiled. "True! Although I hope you won't start going to some other shop once you have more options of kids to talk to…"

Aila scoffed and held up the pastry bag. "Yeah right. Who else is gonna make me the greatest food in the universe?!"

"Oh, so you only come here for the food, not for my company?"

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but… yes. I mean I guess you're okay too but… food."

They laughed. An older woman working behind the counter handed Cailan a much smaller bag and he called out, "Order for the Gullwings!"

"WAHOO!" Rikku cheered, zooming up to the counter and snatching the tiny bag from him. "Thank you very much, Cailan my man!"

"Welp, I'll see ya next time!" Aila said with a friendly wave.

Cailan returned the gesture. "Probably within twenty-four hours, right? I feel like you can't stay away longer than that."

Aila laughed. "Are you saying I'm addicted?"

"Yep."

"Eh, yeah, you're probably right."

Cailan smirked. "Again, not complaining. You're spending enough munny here that my paycheck might get a bump soon."

Aila grinned. "You're welcome then!"

Cailan laughed. "Bye."

"Bye!"

Aila exited the shop with the Gullwings, the little pixies already bickering about who ordered what as they flitted around near Aila's shoulder. Aila glanced back at the bakery, smiling. This was one of the newest shops to be built in Radiant Garden, with more and more businesses and homes popping up every day. It was so nice to see. But this place in particular had become Aila's favorite, because it was here that she had discovered the thing that had been missing from her life: Taiyaki, fish-shaped buns that could be filled with a variety of delicious things, though Aila's all time favorite filling was sweet red bean paste. She had no idea why they were shaped like fish since they didn't taste like anything even close to fish; they tasted kind of like a waffle but with sweet filling on the inside. The second Aila had tried one she'd sworn off any other snack for the rest of eternity in favor of her new discovery. Why didn't everyone only sell these?! And _where_ had these things been all her life?!

Greedily, she dug into her bag and took out one of the buns. The outside of the pastry crunched when she bit into it, the inside nice and fluffy and warm as her teeth sank further into the treat. She sighed happily.

"You really are addicted to those," Yuna pointed out, smirking as she watched Aila's happy expression. "You know they're not exactly healthy, right? Pretty sure that's mostly sugar."

Aila swallowed her bite and grinned. "So?"

"Spoken like a true teenager," Paine sighed.

"Aw leave her alone," Rikku scoffed. "Seize the day, Aila! Eat that junk food! Eat it all!"

Yuna rolled her eyes, but continued to smile. "Whatever, you're young, and you clearly get enough exercise as a Committee member, so yeah, do what you want. Just eat a vegetable and some protein once in a while. Anyway, we've gotta get going – we're overseeing the aqueduct construction in Zero District this afternoon."

Aila sighed dramatically. "I wish I could help, but I'm being forced to be lazy today."

Rikku put a finger to her chin. "Well now you don't sound like a teenager at all. Most kids would love being told to do nothing all day, right?"

"I think that's generalizing an entire age group," Aila replied before taking another bite of her taiyaki. She smiled again. Ah, it was so good!

"You've got such a good work ethic!" Yuna praised, patting Aila on the shoulder with a tiny hand. "But try to relax today, okay? You can help out again tomorrow!"

Aila sighed. "Fine, fine."

"Okie, well we gotta go. Later, tater!" Rikku called, and then the three Gullwings were gone. Aila took another bite of her taiyaki, trying to focus on how awesome it tasted rather than the fact that she suddenly had no one to talk to. Her heart started to beat a little faster, like it always seemed to lately when she was alone. Finishing off her first pastry, she hurriedly grabbed at the blue headphones around her neck and placed them firmly over her ears. She took the small rectangular device the headphones were attached to out of the pocket of her usual black pants and pressed play, her heart rate evening back down into a calm, steady pace as the happy tune she'd been listening to earlier started to play again. She sighed and resumed walking, taking another bun out of her bag and tearing into it. She really wished she had some kind of work she needed to get done today…

Yuna was only partially right. Aila's work ethic had been crazy good lately, but… it wasn't just because she liked helping out. She _did_ want to help of course, but that wasn't all that was keeping her motivated.

Firstly, she had initially come back to Radiant Garden to make munny. The Restoration Committee had always paid her for the work she did, and she and Danny had come to the conclusion that, since they weren't sure how long it would be before they could get home, they might as well try and get _some_ sort of revenue saved up. They hadn't talked to Alex about any of this – their little sister was convinced that it wouldn't be long until they went back home. But both Aila and Danny had been entertaining the idea that there was a _chance_ that it might take much longer than they'd initially thought. What if Yen Sid couldn't figure out how Ansem had gotten them to The Land of Knowledge in the first place? The Disney Castle residents kept insisting that Aila and her siblings shouldn't worry about things like munny, but having them constantly paying for everything was starting to make Aila feel really guilty. And, if finding a way home took a _really_ long time, what if she and her siblings wanted to, say, go to college? That was expensive, wasn't it? It was best to try and help out if they could, and so, Aila had come back to Radiant Garden.

Danny and Alex had headed to Twilight Town, where Danny had held a few odd jobs in the past that he was sure he'd be able to pick up again with relative ease. Aila had slightly pushed for him to come to Radiant Garden too, but it was clear that he missed his Twilight Town friends, and Aila couldn't deny that being with those friends would probably be good for him. His state of mind had been… a little rocky since they'd defeated Xemnas. Thankfully, whenever he started to seem like he was spiraling into negative thoughts, Alex would use some calming healing magic on his temples, which seemed to help, at least temporarily. Aila suspected maybe it wasn't the magic so much as Alex just being her immeasurably kind self that was really helping him feel a little more hopeful, but either way, her being by his side was good. So, Alex went with Danny to Twilight Town. They'd all regroup every few weeks, they'd said, to check in. Once they started going to school again, they'd figure out where to live all together.

The second reason Aila had been so gung-ho about helping out had been because it was distracting, and she currently needed distracting from a multitude of things. For one, she and Danny had been trying really hard to rebuild the trust they'd lost with one another, but it was slow going, and Aila was left feeling rather upset if she thought about the state of their relationship for too long. On a superficial level, sure, they were doing fine. But the second they started talking about anything deeper, it felt weird and forced and… off. As guilty as the thought made her feel, being away from him because she had something else she needed to be helping with was kind of a relief.

But the biggest thing she needed distracting from was how _quiet_ things seemed now when she was alone.

Because Celina still hadn't resurfaced.

Aila had tried everything she could think of. She'd used the technique Mulan's grandmother had taught her for calling Celina, but nothing had happened. She'd had long, one-sided conversations both aloud and silently with the missing Spirit, hoping that Celina would eventually respond, but she never did. She'd begged, screamed, bribed, but was always met with that same, nearly suffocating silence. _Nothing_ had worked.

Ansem's office held no more information on Celina, and the few files Tron had so far been able to decrypt were underwhelming – just a video of Aila and Danny playing a game of tag and a handful of documents about their health; stable, always stable. No mention of any problems communicating with their respective Spirit partners, nor of their transfer to the Land of Knowledge. Tron had promised to notify her as soon as he decrypted anything that might be useful. But since Aila and the other Committee members had stopped going into the castle a week or so ago (all of them focused more on repairing the town for now), Tron, too, had been quiet.

It was weird. Aila hadn't remembered that Celina had even existed for such a long time, and when the Spirit had first started speaking to her last year, it had felt strange and invasive and really, really annoying. But now, not having anyone respond to her thoughts or feelings felt… empty. Like something very important was missing. She had confided in Donald, Goofy, and Mickey one night about what was going on, and had again confided in the Restoration Committee shortly after she'd returned to this world. She was trying really hard not to keep any more secrets from her friends.

But… she still hadn't told Danny or Alex.

Her relationship with Danny was so rocky right now, and she was worried that Cyrus might take the information badly. Mia, too. Mia seemed reasonable and nice, but… would the other Spirits be angry that Aila had somehow _lost_ their sister? Aila was holding out hope that Celina would resurface before she had to deal with that conversation, but so far… nothing. She would probably need to tell them soon…

Aila finished her second taiyaki and turned a corner into a neighborhood still under construction. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one was around, she held out her hand and summoned a few platforms of white Light, placing them like steps up a nearby wall. Quickly, she hopped from one platform to the next, each one beginning to fade as soon as she touched it. She hadn't quite gotten the hang of standing on any of her own Light for extended periods of time, but it was good for a quick boost when she was in need of a shortcut.

Master Yen Sid had told Mickey to tell the siblings to lay low, AKA not to use their powers. Mickey had insisted that he agreed, but wouldn't go into why yet. But using her powers made Aila feel at least _somewhat_ connected to Celina, and so she found that she couldn't really help it. She felt like she _needed_ to use them. In the first few weeks after defeating Xemnas it had felt much harder to summon her Light, but with practice it had gotten easier and easier again. Her skill with Light wasn't quite back to the ease she'd used to have when Celina had been speaking to her, but she was definitely improving. That gave Aila a bit of hope that Celina was resurfacing, which in turn made her want to use her powers even more. Sorry, Yen Sid…

She pulled her blue tank top back down over her stomach after she finished hopping up her makeshift stairs, wondering idly if maybe she was actually growing a little? Maybe she should think about finding a new outfit soon. Continuing through the town now that she had hopped her way up to the upper level, Aila realized that she was headed toward Merlin's place. She almost stopped and turned around, wondering if maybe she should actually stay away from work today like the Committee had insisted she do, but… What else would she do? Everyone she would hang out with was working, and she wasn't supposed to do any work. Something about how the Committee was worried she'd burn herself out or something. Ugh. Whatever. She continued toward Merlin's with sure steps, at least wanting to be near other people, to hear their conversations, to interact with them so she wouldn't have only her own silent mind to bounce things off of. Surely listening to _other people_ do work was okay?

Another upbeat song began to play through her headphones and she focused on its tune, smiling as she let the music wash over her and trying to soak in the happy beat. She took out a third taiyaki as she approached Merlin's door, pausing for just a second to glance between the handle and her full hands. The door seemed slightly ajar, so, with a shrug, she used her shoulder to push it open, preparing to take a bite of her snack as she spun around and continued pushing the door open with her back, entering the house backwards.

She really should have known not to do that by now.

She screamed as Yuffie grabbed her, the ninja clearly babbling a mile a minute about something, but Aila couldn't hear the details over the music in her headphones. Yuffie pulled her into the house so jarringly that Aila nearly dropped both the bag and the lone taiyaki in her other hand, having to scramble to catch them both before they hit the floor. Her headphones were knocked askew, falling to rest around her shoulders as she just barely caught everything again, the song she'd been listening to now quietly flowing into the room.

Aila glared hard at Yuffie. "Yuffie! What the heck! You almost made me drop everything! Don't do that!"

Yuffie was just grinning, looking both triumphant and a little bit mischievous. Aila was immediately on guard. "I knew you were at the bakery, ha!" She turned to the rest of the room. "I told you! Who owes me munny?! I am so intuitive about these things, I told ya she had a crush!"

Aila shook her head incredulously. "What are you…" She blinked, finally taking in the rest of the room. A table that wasn't usually there had been placed (summoned by Merlin, she assumed) in the center of the entry space, and who should be sitting around it? Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku, and Mickey! Aila's eyes lit up as a smile spread across her face. "Oh my gosh! Hi!"

Goofy laughed and Sora raised a hand. "Hiya!"

Aila was about to rush over to them when Yuffie's words struck her as suspicious. She narrowed her eyes at the ninja. "Hang on. Were you gossiping about me?"

Yuffie gave an innocent, "Of course not!" at the same time Sora, Donald, and Riku all chorused, "Yes." Goofy and Mickey just chuckled.

Aila's glare at the ninja increased in intensity. "Stop that! You know I hate that!" Aila looked back to the group around the table and pointed an accusing finger at Yuffie, her taiyaki still in hand. "Whatever she told you is a lie."

Yuffie continued to smirk. "Aw, come on now, don't be shy! It's okay to admit you're in looooove~!"

Aila's eye twitched. Oh, Yuffie was pulling this again, was she? Yuffie had been convinced that Aila had had a crush on one of the young men working on the aqueducts a couple weeks ago, and then on the ramen guy (of all people – he was old enough to be her dad!) after that. At least this guy was closer to her own age, assuming Yuffie was implying Aila had a crush on Cailan, but really?! Aila was about to deny such a ridiculous claim, but then an idea came to her. Maybe she should mess with Yuffie a little first…

Aila held the pastry bag in front of her face and gasped, pretending to be embarrassed. "W-what?! How… how did you know…?!"

Yuffie's grin was immediately replaced with a look of shock. "What?! You admit it?!"

Aila turned away, mostly because she couldn't keep a straight face, and continued in the sweetest voice she could muster, "I thought I had been so careful… But I guess if you've already figured it out, I should tell you… I… have found my true love…"

"WHAT?!" she heard Cid bellow, clearly outraged. She imagined he looked like he was on the verge of a stroke, his opinion about her dating anybody quite the opposite of Yuffie's. Aila had to try really hard not to burst out laughing. Sorry Cid. But this was gonna be too good to pass up. She wished she could see the boys' faces right now too! Oh my gosh, she was getting to prank so many people all at once! Today was great!

Yuffie squealed excitedly. "I knew it I knew it I knew it! That Cailan is a lucky guy!"

"Cailan? Oh, it's not him…"

Yuffie audibly deflated. "Wha? But… wait… then who…? Someone at the bakery, right?"

"We met at the bakery, yes…"

"No one else your age works there," Yuffie mused, probably imagining the shop's owner, a grey-haired woman that was old enough to be Aila's grandmother, and getting thoroughly confused. Aila was finding it _so_ hard not to laugh now.

"Okay, if you really want to know, I'll tell you," Aila said, hoping she sounded as innocent as possible. She could practically feel everyone in the room leaning forward with anticipation behind her. "My one true love… is…"

Aila spun around, holding the taiyaki in her hand high in the air. "TAIYAKI, THE FISH SHAPED BUN!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy burst out laughing immediately. Riku was smirking. Cid looked like he had been about to have a fit but at the last second took a sharp one-eighty into confusion-ville. Yuffie looked completely blindsided. "Wait, wha?" Yuffie shook off her bewilderment and glared. "You were talking about a stupid pastry?!"

Aila gasped dramatically and pulled her taiyaki close to her heart. "I knew you wouldn't approve of our love."

"Aila, I was being serious!"

"So am I!" Aila held up the taiyaki again. "I love everything about Taiyaki, even when its shape isn't perfect or after it gets cold! In fact, I wasn't going to tell you this, but…" Aila leaned forward and whispered loudly, " _We're eloping_. Tonight!"

Yuffie stomped a foot. "Cut it out!" Everyone else was laughing now. Even Leon was chuckling. And Riku! Aila felt very triumphant at that.

Aila smiled sympathetically at Yuffie. "I'm sure you had hopes of being my maid of honor, but alas, we're not having a ceremony. No time. We've gotta elope before people try and tear us apart."

"Aila you can't marry a pastry!"

"Oh my gosh, you see?! The attempts to keep us apart have already started! You're so intolerant!"

Yuffie ran a hand down her face. "Ugh, you are _so_ weird." She held out a hand. "Give me one of those."

Aila recoiled, clutching her bag protectively. "No way, these are mine."

"You have a whole bag full!"

"Yeah, a whole bag for me. Taiyaki would never cheat on me!"

Yuffie lunged, grabbing at Aila's arm and trying to get the taiyaki in her hand from her. "Come on, share!"

"No way! Hiss!"

"Did you just _say_ hiss?"

"Hissssss!"

Aila licked the taiyaki from top to bottom and Yuffie pulled back. "Eww did you just lick it!?"

Aila vaulted away from her and clutched the bag protectively again. "I'll lick them all if I have to!"

Cid sauntered up to Aila, still laughing, and ruffled her hair a bit too hard. "Aw kid, stay just like this forever, okay? Don't grow up any more!" Aila ducked away and tried to fix her hair, only to find Cid's finger wagging in her face. "And no dating—"

"Until I'm thirty, I know," Aila recited, rolling her eyes. She beamed and took a bite of her taiyaki. "Mm~! Romance!"

"I still think you like that guy," Yuffie grumbled, glaring at her student.

Aila rolled her eyes. "You guys told me to make friends my age around here and the second I do you're trying to marry us."

"See? That's what I said!" Cid declared, gesturing to Aila like she was his proof of being the only sane person in the room.

"Hmm I dunno, it's suspicious that you went and made friends with a boy so quickly…" Yuffie said, crossing her arms.

Aila scoffed. "I have lots of friends who are boys." She gestured to the table. "Exhibit A." Sora waved at Yuffie. Donald snickered.

Yuffie waved a hand dismissively. "That's different."

"How?"

"It just is."

Aila shook her head, taking another bite of her snack and raising a brow at Yuffie as she swallowed. " _You're_ the weirdo." She skipped over to the table, deciding she was done with this conversation and opting for a better one. "So what's up, guys? Didn't expect to find you here, eating lunch at a wizard's house."

Sora chuckled. "Well, that wasn't the original plan, but you know we can't turn down free food."

"As you shouldn't," Aila said with a nod.

"Aila, why don't you eat some actual food too?" Aerith said, moving as if to go grab Aila a plate from around the corner.

Aila shook her head and held up her bag. "I'm good!"

Aerith put her hands on her hips. "You've been eating those nonstop for weeks now. You're going to get malnourished."

Aila thought about that for a second, and then shrugged. "Meh. I'll take my chances." Aerith didn't look like she approved of that answer. Jeez, the Committee members were so overprotective sometimes.

Mickey chuckled. "Well Aila, it's a good thing you stopped by. We were here lookin' for ya."

Aila cocked her head. "Me?" Her brow furrowed. "Is something going on?"

Mickey hummed thoughtfully before replying with what sounded suspiciously like a rehearsed answer. "We'll have to wait to see what Master Yen Sid has to say."

Aila's eyes widened. "Ohhhh. He wants to see us?"

"Yep."

Aila nodded. "Finally, well then, let's go!"

Donald smirked. "We were waiting for you, slowpoke!"

Aila stuck her tongue out. "I didn't know you were here, did I? Otherwise I would have hurried!"

"We tried to call you on your com…" Leon said pointedly from the smaller table off to the side of the room, raising a brow at Aila as he took a sip of water.

Aila rubbed her arm sheepishly. "Oh… uh, right… where'd I put that again…?"

"You lost _another_ com?!" Yuffie groaned, running a hand down her face.

Aila shook her head hurriedly. "I didn't lose it! It's in my room… somewhere… I think…"

"It should be with _you_ at all times, not in your room!"

Aila huffed and crossed her arms. "It hurts my ear if I leave it in all the time."

Yuffie was in front of Aila a second later, grabbing the headphones around her student's neck and yanking them forward, forcing Aila to stumble forward as well. "Yeah right. It just gets in the way of these."

Aila blew some air sharply in Yuffie's face, making the ninja pull away and release her. "Whatever. I'll keep it nearby from now on, okay?"

Yuffie smirked, seeming like she didn't believe Aila, but wasn't going to argue against her right now. "You better." Yuffie turned her attention to the King. "How long are you guys gonna be taking Aila for?"

"Not sure," Mickey said with a sheepish smile. "Hopefully we won't be away for long."

Yuffie nodded and then pointed at Aila. "Call if you'll be longer than a day."

Aila sighed. "Yes mother."

Yuffie punched Aila hard in the arm. "I'm too young to be your mother! Call me big sister!"

"Ow! I thought you wanted me to call you sensei…"

"Sensei big sis!"

Mickey and co started to stand, Merlin swooping in as they began clearing their plates and magicking the dishes away instead.

Aila turned to Cid. "Oh! Before I go, I should tell you I updated those Gummi blueprints. I think I figured out how to make it work!"

Cid raised a brow. "I thought we told ya not to do any work today…"

Aila chuckled nervously. "Well I _technically_ started last night…"

Cid smirked. "Okay, I'll take a look."

Sora stopped next to Aila and grinned. "Ready?"

Aila nodded and smiled back. "Yep!" She held the pastry bag out to him. "Wanna try one?"

Sora smirked. "Sure. Guess we should see what the fuss is about if you're going around marrying them." He took a taiyaki and broke it into pieces, letting Donald, Goofy, Mickey, and Riku all try.

"Hey what the heck!" Yuffie shouted. "Why do they get some but not me?!"

Aila shrugged. "They weren't spreading rumors about me."

"She's got ya there," Cid chuckled. Yuffie huffed.

Sora popped his piece into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "Ooh, that _is_ pretty good… I think I'd still want a ceremony rather than jumping straight to an elopement, though."

"You'd be on board with elopement if these hadn't been cooling for like fifteen minutes – gotta try 'em super fresh next time," Aila argued, standing staunchly in defense of her new favorite food. Sora chuckled.

"I feel like we have something like this on the Islands," Riku said after trying his piece.

Sora nodded. "Yeah, I think you're right!"

Aila gasped. "Ooh, you guys are so lucky!"

"Be safe, everyone!" Aerith called as they made their way out the door.

"We will!" Donald called back.

Aila waved at the Committee members. "See you guys soon!"

"Sorry to take you away on your day off, Aila," Mickey said as they started the trek back to the Gummi ship.

Aila waved a hand dismissively. "Please, I should be thanking you. It's only noon and I was already dying of boredom." She sighed. "It's one thing to want me to have a day of not working, but everyone I could have hung out with _is_ working today! So what's the point in that? And they wouldn't let me take a Gummi ship by myself to go visit anybody else even though I _totally_ would have been fine."

"Tch, yeah right, that would have been stupid," Donald muttered.

Aila glared. "What, you think I'd crash?"

"I know you'd crash."

"Wow, rude."

Sora leaned toward Aila's headphones that were still hanging around her neck as they walked, furrowing his brow. "What are you listening to…?" Aila noted idly that he had to bend down quite a lot to get his ear close to her shoulder. Had he grown again?! No fair!

Aila realized she hadn't turned off her music and quickly did so, smiling sheepishly. "Whoops, forgot that was still on… I'm going through every song I found on this world. I think I'm on a band called Leeka?"

Sora shrugged. "Never heard of 'em."

Aila grinned. "I think you'd like them, actually! Their songs are really upbeat. Keeps me in a good mood!"

"So you're doin' okay then, Aila?" Mickey asked, his brow furrowing in light concern.

Aila quirked a brow at him. "Did someone say I wasn't?"

"Not exactly," Riku said with a shrug. He glanced Aila's way, his lips pulling into a tight frown. "It was mentioned that Celina isn't back yet, though…"

Aila sighed. "Ah… Well, yeah…" Aila subconsciously grabbed at her headphones with her free hand, squeezing them lightly. She put on her best smile. "But I'm sure she'll come back any day now! So don't worry, I'm fine!"

"Hmm," Donald said, narrowing his eyes as he studied her. No one looked very convinced.

Aila twirled the chord of her headphones around her finger, continuing to smile as reassuringly as she could. "Really, I promise!" She stopped twirling the chord and her fingers tightened around it as she glanced away. "It's just… a little quieter than I'm used to now…" She smiled again at her friends. "But I'm okay. It's really nothing to worry over."

Sora put his hands behind his head, his brow furrowed lightly. "Well, okay…" He smiled at Aila. "If things are too quiet, you can just talk to us! Ooh, wanna hear about how Wakka and Tidus almost died the other day?"

Riku groaned. "Those idiots…"

Aila clutched her bag close, her eyes wide. "Oh no! What happened?!"

Sora chuckled. "Okay, well maybe they didn't almost _die_ but…"

Sora launched into a tale that Aila thought sounded very embellished about Wakka and Tidus going cave exploring off the Islands and supposedly finding what they thought were kelp zombies! But it turned out to just be regular kelp, which was a pretty anticlimactic ending. They did, however, miscalculate what time the tides were going to come back in and almost get stuck overnight in a pitch black cave that was slowly filling with water, which Aila had to admit sounded pretty scary regardless of the lack of zombies. But they managed to swim out, and it sounded like they were fine.

"And now they're both grounded," Sora finished as the Gummi ship took off. This ship was different than the one Aila had traveled in before, with a bigger control room and supposedly less living space, though she hadn't bothered to check on that yet. Aila suspected this ship was more for short trips rather than long journeys.

Donald sighed. " _You'd_ never do something so stupid, right, Sora?"

Sora scoffed. "Of course not! I always prepared when I went cave exploring."

Now it was Riku's turn to scoff. "You mean _Kairi and I_ prepared."

Sora grinned. "Well my preparation was bringing you two along!"

Aila spun her chair around a few times, finishing another taiyaki off as she watched the ship's interior spin by. "Man, you guys did cool things like exploring caves and going on adventures before you even left your world! I never did anything exciting like that… I'm so boring."

"Not pulling dangerous stunts doesn't mean you're boring. Sounds to me like you're just smarter than these guys," Donald said. Sora stuck his tongue out at Donald, but Riku just shrugged in what seemed like slight agreement.

Aila noticed Mickey had set their destination already: Master Yen Sid's Tower. She quirked a brow. "Are we not going to get Danny and Alex?"

Mickey glanced her way. "Master Yen Sid only asked for you."

Aila blinked. Huh? She had assumed that she had been invited to Yen Sid's tower because he had news about when she and her siblings would be able to get home. But if Danny and Alex weren't on the list, then it couldn't be about that. She glanced questioningly at Sora. "Wait… so what exactly are we doing?"

Sora shook his head. "None of us know. He just said to come as soon as we could, apparently."

Aila bit her lip nervously. "…Is everything… maybe not over after all?"

Mickey's expression hardened. "Yes… I'm afraid… there may still be some things left to do…"

Aila's fingers tightened around her nearly empty pastry bag. No way. The Organization was defeated! That meant that Xehanort's Heartless _and_ Nobody had been taken out! So… what could be left? "You mean we might have missed something…?"

Goofy frowned. "Maybe, but uh, I can't think o' nothin' that we coulda missed."

Donald glanced at Aila. "Yeah, and you seemed like you were keeping track of that pretty well, right? You didn't let us skip the Pride Lands or Sephiroth."

Aila nodded. "I mean, I thought I was…?"

"We'll be there soon enough, and Master Yen Sid will fill everyone in," Mickey insisted. He smiled at the group. "Don't worry, fellas. No matter what's goin' on, we'll take care of it together."

Sora nodded. "Yeah!" He leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head. "And who knows? Maybe it's not about anything like that. Maybe Master Yen Sid wants to give us some kind of award for being so awesome and beating the Organization!"

Donald rolled his eyes. "Yeah right." He thought for a moment. "…That would be nice, though…" Aila noticed Mickey's frown and gleaned that Sora's guess wasn't quite on the mark, but decided not to say anything else on the matter for now. Mickey clearly didn't want to get into whatever was going on until they were with Yen Sid.

They arrived at the Mysterious Tower not long after that, the world still pretty close to Radiant Garden. Mickey explained that the worlds were constantly moving, so many of them might have shifted already since they'd last traversed the stars. Sora grumbled about their map being useless again. Aila was glad that this world, at least, didn't seem to have gone far.

The group filed out of the ship after Mickey parked it, Aila's skin immediately tingling from the massive amount of magic this tiny world possessed. She blinked up at the crooked tower, suddenly feeling a little apprehensive. The last time she'd been here, she had left Alex behind. It wasn't exactly one of her favorite memories, and even though everything had worked out, thinking about it still made her feel anxious and sad. But this time, things were different. Alex was safe in Twilight Town with Danny, and there was no plan to leave anyone behind. For all Aila knew, she and the boys were just here to talk or something. Heck, maybe they were here to have a tea party, who knew?!

They climbed the tower's many stairs, Donald grumbling under his breath about how Master Yen Sid could probably make the climb shorter if he wanted to while Sora and Goofy snickered at his bellyaching.

Aila glanced at Riku. Had he always towered over her so much? He was just getting taller and taller! Ugh, he and Sora were really leaving her in the dust in the height department here. "You cut your hair," Aila mused aloud, only half having meant to voice the observation. Last time Aila had seen the older boy his silver hair had fallen below his shoulders, but now it hardly reached below his ear lobes. It was slightly jarring how different the style was – even in the first game his hair had been longer than this, hadn't it been?

Riku's eyes flickered to meet hers. "Ah, yeah, I did." He grimaced. "I don't like it."

Aila quirked a brow. "Why?"

Riku sighed. "It's shorter than I wanted."

Aila smiled lightly. "It'll grow out. But I don't think it looks bad or anything like this, either." It really didn't, Aila just hadn't ever imagined him with such a short style before. But she got the feeling that Riku could probably pull off any hairstyle – he was just so _cool_. Aila wondered fleetingly if someone as cool as him would have ever given her the time of day if they'd met under normal circumstances. Probably not. None of the 'cool' kids on her world had ever given her any kind of positive attention. She was most definitely not on the same level. She'd just kind of… tricked all the people here into thinking she was…

Riku smiled back, the expression making his entire face seem soft and kind. "Heh. Thanks." Aila glanced away a little awkwardly, feeling slightly guilty for mentally comparing Riku to the kids she'd used to know back home. He was, somehow, much nicer than they'd been and probably didn't deserve to be lumped into the same group.

"Hey, I cut my hair too," Sora said, glancing over his shoulder and feigning hurt. "How come I don't get any compliments?"

Aila squinted. "Did you actually cut your hair? It looks the same."

Sora scoffed. "I cut it a little! So it stays out of my eyes!"

Aila rolled her eyes. "Well I did that too, that's hardly anything."

"What? No you didn't, your hair looks longer if anything."

"My _bangs_ , I cut my bangs."

"Are you gonna just keep growing the rest of your hair out forever…?"

"Maybe, what's it to you?"

"Nothing, nothing. Seems like a hassle is all."

Aila puffed her cheeks out in annoyance. "You're just jealous that my hair lays flat, Spikey Head."

Sora raised a brow, seemingly trying, and failing, to suppress a smile. "That's the dumbest nickname yet, and it has nothing to do with keys!"

Aila crossed her arms and shrugged. "Well there are two other Keybladers here. Key related nicknames would just be confusing right now."

Sora laughed. "I guess that's true. Light bulb." Aila groaned at the bad nickname, and Sora laughed again. "Hey, you started this again!"

Donald sighed loudly. "You two…"

Goofy chuckled. "Ahyuck! It's just like old times, isn't it Donald?"

"I guess…"

Aila raised a hand to the side of her mouth and whispered loudly to Riku, "Donald likes to pretend that he thinks the rest of us are super annoying."

Donald squawked out an indignant laugh. "Pretend?!" Aila, Sora, and Goofy chuckled.

They finally made it to the door at the top of the stairs and everyone's spines straightened in preparation to see the sorcerer on the other side. Mickey opened the door and entered first, everyone filing in behind him in a respectful silence, waiting for the King to announce their arrival.

"Master Yen Sid," Mickey said once everyone was inside. "I've brought everyone you asked for."

Yen Sid, who had been standing opposite the door gazing out of the room's star shaped window, turned to look at the group. "Yes. Thank you all for coming. There is no time to waste." He gestured to the space in front of his desk. "Sora. Riku. If you'd please."

Sora and Riku shared a glance before moving to stand in front of the desk, Aila and the others shuffling around to the desk's other side as Yen Sid took a seat in his high backed chair. Aila quirked a brow, but kept her confusion to herself. What was this all about?

Master Yen Sid steepled his fingers, his expression very serious. "I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here."

Everyone nodded. Yen Sid paused, seemingly thinking about how to proceed, before finally he just came right out and said it.

"I'm afraid your journey is not over yet."

KHKHKH

Yay! We have OFFICIALLY begun now~ Are you guys excited?! Because I sure am! Woo!

Sorry for the exposition dumps in this chapter, but I wanted to get everything about where everyone currently is, and why, laid out right away, so we can not have to deal with that for a while now. I hope it wasn't boring.

Please leave a review to let me know what you think so far! They really make me so happy and keep me motivated, even if they're only a few words long. It's so great to hear everyone's reactions to what I write~

So far so good on the two-week schedule, let's keep it up! Chapter 3 will be up in two weeks. See you then! Thank you so much for reading!

~Fade


	3. Dream Drop

Wooo! Let's get this party starteddd! This is the final "setup" chapter, as I'm calling them. Beginnings are my least favorite things to write because of all the setup. Do you know how annoying it was going through all of Yen Sid's dialogue? Argh. He just goes on and on… I hope I managed to make it all interesting!

But before that, more fanart! This was sent to me by the wonderful Xxser3ndipityxX, but was actually drawn by her very talented friend. I really love this take on Aila's design, she looks so cool! You can see the art here:

deviantart (dotcom) /xxser3ndipityxx/art/Aila-758723957

As always remove spaces and replace (dotcom) with the actual thing.

I'll be posting fanart with the next couple chapters. Again, if you'd like to share anything, let me know!

Now, let's get back to it, shall we?

* * *

" _Is this some sort of test?"_

 _"Everything that doesn't kill you is."_

 _"Mind you," he added, "surviving doesn't always mean you passed."_

― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Secret

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Dream Drop**

"I'm afraid your journey is not over yet."

Aila did her best not to show how totally freaked out that simple sentence had just made her, but her fists involuntarily balled anyway. Yen Sid had said it so… gravely. Everyone else seemed just as startled by the declaration. Sure, they'd briefly discussed the possibility of their journey not being complete on the way over, but that didn't mean hearing the confirmation of their suspicions wasn't still a little jarring.

Sora seemed to snap out of his shock first. "So… we missed something?"

Yen Sid let out a thoughtful hum. "No. Not in the sense you're implying. I believe you all did everything you were supposed to do at the time." He glanced Aila's way, and she immediately felt a little awkward under his intense gaze. "Despite what I assume may have been a strong temptation to take shortcuts once the depth of Aila's knowledge was revealed… she managed to keep you all on track, and because of that, you were all able to defeat Organization XIII. For that, Aila, you deserve praise."

Aila felt herself immediately blush at the rather out-of-the-blue compliment. Goofy patted her shoulder proudly, and both Sora and Riku smiled at her, Sora also giving her a double thumbs up. Aila cleared her throat awkwardly. "Uh… th-thanks…? Er, I mean, thank you, Master Yen Sid…"

Yen Sid nodded, but then sighed deeply. "Unfortunately, because of Xemnas's defeat, I am afraid that something even more sinister has been set in motion."

Everyone immediately looked serious again. Aila's heart sputtered nervously. Wait, what? Because they had won, that meant now something even worse was coming? What was this, a hydra's heads situation?

"Which brings us to why I've called you all here," Yen Sid continued, and Aila forced herself to pay rapt attention. "The Darkness that you all will need to face is being led by Master Xehanort."

Mickey's expression darkened, the King apparently not surprised by this bit of information, but everyone else was just… utterly confused.

"Wha…" Aila breathed, not following at all. "Isn't he like… dead?"

Goofy jumped. "Gwarsh! So he's a ghost?!"

Donald didn't look thrilled about that. "Wak! What?! How're we supposed to fight a ghost?!"

"He is not a ghost," Yen Sid replied calmly. "On the contrary, he is very much alive. And therein lies the problem."

"Uhh," Sora began, scratching his head as he tried to figure out what the heck Yen Sid was talking about. "But we defeated his Heartless, _and_ his Nobody. Right? So… what's left?" Aila nodded in agreement. Was there some other piece that existed? Heart, body, and… what… brain?! What would that kind of enemy be called, a Mind…less? Ha…

Yen Sid rapped his long fingers gently against the wood of his desk a couple of times before answering. "It seems… that if a person's Heartless _and_ Nobody are destroyed, then that original person may have a way of coming back. Master Xehanort… is whole again."

The room practically exploded.

"WHAT?!" Donald squawked, his eyes looking dangerously close to bugging out of his head. Aila nearly screamed, both her hands covering her mouth and just barely suppressing the high-pitched sound that wanted to escape her. Sora and Riku had both thrown decorum to the wind and were launching rapid fire questions at Yen Sid about how that could possibly be, and what did that mean, and had they made a mistake?! Mickey was trying to calm everyone down, while Goofy just held his own head and shook it worriedly side to side.

Yen Sid waved a hand and silence fell, Sora and Riku's hands immediately flying to their throats as their eyes widened in shock. Aila tried to say something but found that only silence escaped her, her throat suddenly feeling strangely numb – it seemed everyone's ability to speak had been halted.

"My apologies, but I must ask for your silence," Yen Sid said. He waited another moment and then waved his hand again. Feeling flooded back into to Aila's throat and she and everyone else let out a sigh, their voices returned. Donald looked a little peeved, but held his tongue. "Now then," Yen Sid continued, "it is true that Xehanort's return may have been assisted by the actions of everyone in this room. However, Xehanort's Heartless _and_ his Nobody were very real threats that needed to be dealt with. It was necessary for you all to defeat them, and it is good that you did."

He waved his hand again and a small, static image of a person appeared on his desk. It was a very old man, slightly hunched and entirely bald, though he did have a grey tuft of hair on his chin. His eyes were like liquidated gold with unsettlingly sharp black pupils, giving the impression that he could see straight through anything and anyone. A black coat with two black shoulder guards adorned his body, covering a white tunic, black pants, and black boots.

Recognition hit Aila like a truck, and she once again let out a horrified squeak as she pointed at the image. "Th-that's…!"

Everyone's eyes immediately darted to her. Master Yen Sid looked intrigued. "You recognize him?"

Aila nodded vigorously, the words flying out of her rapid fire. "That's the old guy who was in the secret ending with the warriors and the gagillions of Keyblades and the warriors fought him but he was like insanely strong and then Kingdom Hearts was a huuuuge moon and he dropped that boy off the cliff and…!"

Yen Sid smirked. "Ah. I see. So you have witnessed a scene play out with him in The Land of Knowledge. But, tell me, do you _know_ who this is?"

Aila furrowed her brow, thinking as hard as she could to try and recall details from the secret video at the end of Kingdom Hearts II. There was no talking in it though, and she couldn't remember what words flashed across the screen. "Uhhh… a bad guy, I assumed…"

Yen Sid nodded. "This is Master Xehanort."

Aila felt like the room was spinning. No way! _This old guy_ was Master Xehanort?! Since when?! And then why were his Heartless and Nobody so young in comparison?! She rubbed at her temples and shut her eyes tight, trying to process this information. "No wayyyy…"

"Aila, do you recognize him for any other reason?"

Aila peeked at Yen Sid while Goofy patted her gently on the back. She frowned. "I don't think so. Should I…?"

Yen Sid let out a thoughtful hum, but didn't reply right away. He waved a hand and the image of Xehanort faded. "…I see…"

Aila felt very uneasy with that response. Why else would she recognize Master Xehanort? Had they met when she was little? When had he become a Heartless? She very much did not like the idea that she might have known that creepy looking guy. Ugh, if she could just ask Celina, maybe she would know what the heck Yen Sid was alluding to…!

"In any case, we should move on." Yen Sid zeroed in on the two boys before him. "We will begin with the two of you: Sora, and Riku."

Both boys straightened a little, Sora's brow furrowed in either slight confusion or slight concern, Aila couldn't quite tell. Aila gently chewed on her lower lip. She wasn't sure why, but she was suddenly feeling pretty nervous for them both. Not to mention she was a little annoyed that Yen Sid had switched his focus right after being so cryptic with her. What was that about? Looked like she was gonna have to wait her turn…

"Long ago," Yen Sid continued, seemingly starting on a new thought now. Uh? Okay. Aila tried to pay attention as he went on, "in the age of fairy tales, the World was filled with light – a gift, many believed, from an unseen power known as 'Kingdom Hearts'."

Oh snap, wait, this was actually going to be really interesting. Aila leaned forward a little with anticipation.

"You see, Kingdom Hearts was protected by its counterpart, the Key-blade, so that none could ever lay hands on its mysteries." Yen Sid waved a hand and a word appeared before him: 'X-blade'.

"X-blade?" Sora read aloud, quirking a brow.

Yen Sid shook his head. "That symbol is not an 'X'. It is the ancient letter 'chi', pronounced as either key or kye."

"So when you just said Key-blade, you were just talking about the X-blade," Aila said, saying the letter 'x' rather than chi or whatever the heck it actually was. She had assumed he was just talking about a regular old Keyblade since, y'know, that's what it sounded like.

"Chi-blade, yes." Yen Sid again said the word like Keyblade.

Aila narrowed her eyes. "That's way confusing," she muttered. How was anyone supposed to tell the difference if they couldn't see the word written out…? She glanced to Goofy and said quietly, "I'm gonna call it X-blade. With an x." Goofy chuckled.

The word faded, and Yen Sid continued again. "But in time, the World was overrun by legions who wanted the light all for themselves, and the first shadows were cast upon the land. The warriors crafted 'Keyblades' in the image of the original Key-blade—" Aila puffed her cheeks out in frustration. She assumed if she saw that second 'Key-blade' written out it would be X-blade… "—and waged a great war over Kingdom Hearts. We call this the 'Keyblade War'. But though the war extinguished all light from the World, the Darkness could not reach the brightness inside every child's heart. With that Light, the World was remade as we know it today, with countless smaller worlds shining like stars in the sky.

"As for the real Key-blade, it did not survive the battle. The two elements that created it, one of darkness and one of light, shattered into twenty pieces – seven of light; thirteen of darkness. And as for the source of all light – the one true Kingdom Hearts – it was swallowed by the Darkness, never to be seen again. As long as it remains there, even the brightest world will have its dark corners. After all, light begets darkness, and darkness is drawn to light.

"For this reason, some decided to use the Keyblade – a weapon designed to conquer the light – to defend the light instead. These were the first heroes of the Keyblade."

Aila's head was reeling. This was a lot of information all at once. So, the Keyblade War destroyed the World, and that's why all the worlds were all broken up and separate. And it was all so that people could control Kingdom Hearts? Which is light? And there was some ultimate X-blade thingy that was a balance of light and darkness? She pursed her lips. She missed the days when she, like, actually knew stuff about this universe…

"As you may or may not be aware, Xehanort was once a Keyblader like yourselves. And in time, he was able to master the weapon. As a Keyblade Master, Xehanort had a gift like few others," Yen Sid continued. "But such great minds are often plagued by a single great question. What is the essence of the human heart that weakens us, or empowers us? The answer, he believed, would be found in the Keyblade War. What if the challenges of our past were, in fact, a map to the light and darkness that battles within us all?"

Aila frowned thoughtfully, something about that question seizing her attention and feeling… almost like déjà vu? But she had no idea why. She subconsciously placed a hand over her heart, trying to quell the gentle sting there.

Yen Sid continued. "Xehanort had to know, so he renounced his duties as master and chose the seeker's life. Since then, in many a guise, he has clashed with protectors of the Light – Keyblade wielders like yourselves. And mark my words – he will trouble us yet again. We must be ready. Which is why you, Sora and Riku, are to be tested for the mark of a true Keyblade Master."

Aila raised a brow, and she saw Sora do the same. Tested? Like, filling in answers on a piece of paper, or what? And why? Weren't they Keyblade Masters already?

"No doubt you fancy yourselves masters already," Yen Sid continued, and Aila's eyes widened a fraction. Whoa. Had he read their minds?! Probably just a coincidence. "But it takes years of training. Only a true master can teach you the proper way. Both of you are self-taught Keyblade wielders – an impressive feat. However, the time has come for you to let go of preconceived notions, forget what you know about the Keyblade, and begin your training again with a clean slate."

This seemed to confuse everyone again, Aila letting out a "huh?" with the rest of the room's occupants.

Sora in particular looked totally baffled. "But that's a formality, right?" he asked, brow furrowed. He looked a little offended. And honestly, Aila didn't blame him; she would have been kind of irked if she were in his shoes. "I already proved myself. Me, and the King, and Riku – we can take on anything. Right, Riku?"

Riku, on the other hand, didn't seem offended at all. If anything he looked… intrigued, maybe. "I don't know," he breathed after a moment of thought. He held out his right hand, his Keyblade appearing to him in a flash of Darkness. "I think that in my heart, Darkness still has a hold." He let his Keyblade fade again in another wisp of Darkness. Aila frowned. Oh…

Riku let his arm fall back to his side and bowed his head slightly, continuing earnestly, "Walking that path changed me. I'm not sure if I'm ready to wield a Keyblade. Maybe I do need to be tested."

"Riku…" Sora breathed, watching his friend sympathetically. He thought for a second and then nodded, turning back to Yen Sid. "Then count me in. Put me through the test! Just watch – me and Riku will pass with flying colors!" He laced his hands behind his head and grinned cockily, Riku looking vaguely bemused by Sora's sudden one-eighty. Aila shared a glance with Donald, Goofy, and the King, all of them smirking at Sora's confidence. Aila had to suppress a giggle. It was just like him to be so cocky about succeeding _before_ knowing what the heck the test even was. Though it wasn't like she didn't believe he could pull it off either. Whatever the test was, he would pass it. Duh.

Yen Sid nodded. "Very well then. Sora and Riku, let your examination begin."

Aila's smirk widened. Ha. So the boys had to take a test now. She was suddenly very glad she wasn't a Keyblader. Tests sucked.

"So uhh, what exactly do we have to do?" Sora asked, letting his arms fall to his sides again. "Write an essay? Or…"

Donald snickered. Yen Sid smiled. "Nothing like that. Think of this as a practical exam."

Sora quirked a brow at Riku, who replied, "That means we have to actually _do_ something."

Sora put a finger to his chin. "Oh. More like a challenge, then."

Donald put a hand on his hip. "Just because you don't call it an exam doesn't mean it isn't one."

Sora rolled his eyes. "Saying 'exam' makes me think of sitting at a desk and filling in answers, and that doesn't sound fun at all."

"Heh heh, suckers," Aila taunted. Sora stuck his tongue out at her.

"Your exam will be as follows," Yen Sid continued, getting everyone's attention once again. "If we are ever to strike down Xehanort, we need the individuals King Mickey spoke of in his letter."

Aila blinked, looking to Mickey for help. What letter? Mickey caught onto her silent question and replied, "The one I sent them just before you left for Radiant Garden." He bowed his head, his ears drooping a little. "…Aqua, Terra, and Ventus."

Oh. Right. Those guys…

Aila had come across King Mickey penning a letter to the Islanders while she was still staying at Disney Castle, and the King had told her a little about what he was writing. Yen Sid had asked him to share the story of three Keybladers that had been around before Sora and Riku, that Mickey had apparently personally known around a decade ago. Their stories, unfortunately, all ended very sadly. It had made Aila worry about her friends, the idea that they might meet a similar fate someday making her extremely uneasy, so she hadn't asked many follow up questions. All she knew was the three had been Keybladers, and they had fought Xehanort. And obviously things hadn't ended the way they'd hoped.

"Yes," Yen Sid breathed. "We must lead them out of sorrow and slumber, and back to our world."

Aila's eyes widened a little. Wait, so those guys weren't dead? Oh! Well that was great, then!

"To do so," Yen Sid went on, "seven Sleeping Keyholes must be found and unlocked, and a great power retrieved. As you know, every world is walled off from the next, preventing travel between them. In the past, you could bridge these gaps because the walls were broken, or because you could open special Lanes with your Keyblades. But your new goals, the Sleeping Keyholes, are harder to reach.

"You'll recall, in your first journey, that you brought many worlds back from the Darkness – but some never returned completely. They still sleep, cut off from all outside channels. Not even the Heartless can enter. But these sleeping worlds are said to have their own manner of Darkness."

Yen Sid waved a hand again, and another miniature figure appeared on his desk. This time, whatever it was wasn't human. In fact, it was kinda… cute? It was a chubby little thing, black, white, and pink with a little green tongue sticking out of its mouth. It looked kind of like a dog? But also kind of like a fat cat… Either way, the only really menacing thing about it was its beady red eyes. It hopped around the desk a little, eying the occupants of the room like it wanted to attack them, though it still didn't seem all that threatening.

Yen Sid continued. "They are called 'Dream Eaters,' and there are two kinds." He gestured to the little guy on his desk. "'Nightmares,' which devour happy dreams." Aila frowned. Okay, that description made this thing seem less cute all of a sudden… "And benevolent 'Spirits', which consume the Nightmares."

Everyone's eyes flickered to Aila again, who cocked her head curiously. "Wait… what?"

Yen Sid chuckled. "Yes, I see the confusion. But the Spirits I'm talking about are these." He waved a hand again and another little cat-dog like thing appeared on his desk, almost identical to the first, but with a much brighter color scheme. It wiggled its stubby tail happily a few times, its light blue fur and button-like eyes giving it the strangest resemblance to a stuffed animal, albeit one that could think and move around and stuff. It hopped onto the Nightmare and immediately destroyed it, the little Spirit then rolling onto its back like it wanted a belly rub for doing something good. It was insanely cute. Aila had to really resist the urge to reach out and grab it; she was pretty sure it was just a projection and wasn't actually real anyway, but oh my gosh. _Cute_.

"Wait, so _that's_ a Spirit?" Sora asked, crossing his arms. He narrowed his eyes at in in concentration, and then looked to Aila. "Hmmm… I guess I can see a resemblance… It wants praise after taking out a single, super easy bad guy, just like you."

Aila glared. "Ha ha, very funny." Sora grinned. Donald and Goofy snickered.

Yen Sid smiled, addressing Aila. "Actually, Dream Eaters were created as somewhat of an attempt to mimic the original purpose of Spirits like your Celina. As you may already know, Aila, Spirits like Celina were originally created to live amongst mortals and help them protect the balance of the worlds, some Spirits being guardians of the Light, others of the Darkness, and others still standing somewhere in between. It is said that back when they were allowed to roam freely, these Spirits would assist mortals that they deemed worthy, working together to keep the hearts of the worlds safe. Once the original Spirits were locked away within the hearts of mortals, however, it became increasingly difficult for them to assist as they once did. And so, Dream Eaters were created, as an attempt to bring back what the worlds had lost. Unlike Celina, these Dream Eaters are artificial beings, and their creation was far from perfect. But I suspect, if you were to ever come across a Dream Eater Spirit yourself, it may naturally form a connection with you, and you yourself would likely be able to destroy Nightmares in the same way as them."

Aila frowned. Celina had never mentioned these things to her. Maybe she hadn't felt it was important… Her heart gave a painful pinch as she once again wished Celina were here to explain this all to her a little more. She held her breath for a moment, wondering if maybe, now that she was wishing it for a specific purpose, Celina might finally say something… but no. Nothing.

Yen Sid turned back to the boys. Sora looked like he had just had an excellent idea, but Yen Sid cut him off before he could voice it. "No, you may not take Aila with you for your test. That would be cheating." Sora closed his mouth and huffed lightly. "Your own Dream Eaters will do the job just fine. They will guide you, just as the Heartless once guided you, to the Keyhole you seek at the heart of each world."

The little Dream Eater faded. Aila made a confused face. This test was sounding weirder and weirder.

"One final thing to note," Yen Sid continued. "In the Sleeping Worlds, real time does not flow. Unless one restores the world by waking it from its slumber, it will stay locked in a dream forever. Thus, you may encounter familiar faces, but they are just figments of the dream. In actuality, they are sound asleep – trapped within a world that is also sleeping."

Aila was intrigued by this. Familiar faces? Who would they see? A thought struck her that maybe this whole test would be released as a game someday on her own world and she suddenly got very excited. Sora and Riku going to a bunch of new and/or familiar worlds? That definitely sounded like a game! Was it too late to tell Yen Sid that she liked Sora's idea of her going too? Probably – he'd said that would be cheating. Ugh, no fair! She hadn't even considered that there might be more games! Well okay she _kind of_ knew that there had been some spinoffs for handheld consoles, but they hadn't had Sora, Donald, and Goofy in them so she'd never bugged her parents that much about buying the systems she'd need to play them. But she totally would have wanted this one. Sora had better tell her every detail when he got back!

"What's more," Yen Sid was saying, "whilst someone may no longer dwell in the real version of a world, dreams may paint a fuller picture and restore what seems to be missing. You may find that you learn quite a bit more while dreaming than you ever would have while awake.

"One dream is connected to another, which means we must choose in which 'Sleeping World' you will begin." Yen Sid thought for a moment. "I will return you to the Destiny Islands just before they were swallowed by the Darkness and plunged into sleep." Sora and Riku's eyes widened a little, but they both recomposed themselves quickly and nodded. Yen Sid nodded as well. "Once dreams take you, you must let them guide you to the Sleeping Worlds. As there are seven pure lights, there are seven 'Sleeping Keyholes'. Unlocking these will both grant you new powers, and free the worlds from their wakelessness. Complete this task, and return here safely, and I will name you both _true masters_."

Sora and Riku nodded again, both of them looking very determined now. Aila thought this all sounded very complicated just to grant them 'master' status, but it wasn't her call, and she supposed Yen Sid probably knew what was best. Tch, still not fair that only Sora and Riku got to go…

Yen Sid stood, his robes sweeping out grandly around him as he made his way toward the door that led to his study's adjoining room. "This way, boys, and we will get started. Everyone else, I will return momentarily."

"Good luck, fellas!" Mickey said, giving the boys a smile.

"You can do it!" Goofy encouraged.

"Don't mess it up," Donald said with a smirk.

Aila flashed her best smile and a double thumbs up. "You're actually _supposed_ to sleep through this test, so it should be a cinch! …Also it sounds kind of fun take mental notes and tell me everything please."

Riku smiled and Sora chuckled, replying, "Thanks guys! See you when we're true masters!"

Sora rushed after Yen Sid into the adjoining room, Riku following a little slower behind him. The door clicked shut, and they were gone.

Aila crossed her arms thoughtfully. "What a weird test."

"It does seem a little inusual," Goofy mused.

" _Un_ usual," Donald corrected.

"Maybe, but they'll both be able to do it," Mickey said with a smile.

Aila started to wander around the room, feeling kind of antsy after standing in the same spot for so long. "So if _they're_ here for a Keyblade test, why are the rest of us here?" she asked as she knelt in font of one of Yen Sid's bookshelves. Lots of magic theory books. "Obviously Master Yen Sid didn't want any of us to go with them, he shot it down when Sora almost suggested it."

"Beats me," Donald replied. "Don't touch anything."

Aila rolled her eyes. "I'm just looking."

"How are Danny and Alex doing?"

Aila glanced over her shoulder at the King's question. She shrugged. "Okay, I think. I haven't talked to them in a couple of weeks… Cid and Tron were working on a portable device that would maybe let us keep in touch on different worlds, but they haven't finished it yet. Like what the Gummi ships can do, but… not part of a ship."

"Oh, that would be really helpful," Mickey said, looking intrigued.

"I kinda thought you'd all wanna stay together," Goofy said with a slight frown.

Aila turned back to the bookshelf, her eyes seeing the titles of the books now but her mind not really registering them. "We will. We just… uh… well… I wanted to see the Committee, and Danny missed his friends in Twilight Town, so… but we're planning on picking one place soon, probably… Once we figure out how long we'll be here, you know? We're just, um, waiting…"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Mickey giving her a sympathetic smile. "Your relationship with Danny will get better, don't worry."

Aila sighed. "…Yeah."

She didn't have the heart to tell Mickey that she only half believed him.

"So, you and Daniel are still having problems."

Aila jumped at Yen Sid's voice and stood, spinning to see that the sorcerer was back in his chair. What the?! How… when…?! Aila did her best to play off her shock. "U-uh, well, we're getting better, and he hasn't tried to kill me in weeks! Ha…"

Yen Sid did not look very amused by her joke. "Hn… Alex is with him?"

"Y-yes, sir."

"Good." Yen Sid folded his hands atop his desk. "Now then, Aila, Donald, and Goofy. We should discuss why I've summoned you here as well."

Aila shared a surprised look with Donald and Goofy before the three of them scurried to the spot in front of the desk that Sora and Riku had previously held. Aila immediately felt insanely nervous being in the proverbial spotlight, but it helped having Donald and Goofy at her side.

Yen Sid looked at them each very seriously. "There is a world nearby that I have sensed a great Darkness growing in, and I am concerned that, if left unchecked, that Darkness could spread to other worlds as well." Mickey was suddenly looking a little disgruntled about something, but he kept his mouth shut.

Aila blinked. "…Wait… so you want _us_ to go handle that?"

"Yes."

"…Without Sora?"

Yen Sid smirked. "Unless you think you cannot manage the task without him?"

"Of course we can manage it!" Donald said at once, puffing his chest out importantly.

Goofy scratched his head. "But uh, if we're fightin' Darkness, don't we need a Keyblader to come along?"

"This is a different type of Darkness, one that requires a very specific type of Light to oppose it," Yen Sid replied, looking very pointedly at Aila. Ohhh good, he meant _her_ Light. So this was on her now? Uh… "I can see your doubt, Aila, but I believe you can take care of this on your own. As a matter of fact, you have healed a dying world before, have you not?"

A memory came to Aila, and she rubbed her arm anxiously. "Uh, well, I guess the Pride Lands… How did you know about that, though?"

Yen Sid smirked again, his beady eyes twinkling a little mischievously. "The stars can be quite talkative about these things, if you know how to listen."

…Huh?

"The world in question is in need of the same attention you gave to the Pride Lands. Do that, and the Darkness will lose its hold. The world will begin to fight back, and will not perish. As a Spirit of the Light, you and Celina have a duty to save those worlds that can only survive firmly in the Light."

Aila's head drooped a little. "…Master Yen Sid, I should tell you… I… I haven't had contact with Celina since we defeated Xemnas… so I don't know if I can… well… I'm not sure I'll be able to…"

Yen Sid actually managed to look mildly surprised by this news. "Oh? Do you sense her at all?"

Aila balled her fists. "…I don't… know… I don't know."

Yen Sid stroked his beard thoughtfully. "But you can still use her powers?"

Aila hesitated. She had been explicitly told _not_ to use her powers, so would admitting she knew she could still use them give away that she'd disobeyed that order? "U-uh… Well… Y-yes…"

"You have been using them," Yen Sid said. It wasn't a question.

Aila winced. "…I'm sorry. I know you and the King didn't want me to, but…" She placed a hand over her heart, frowning deeply. "It's the only thing that makes me feel like Celina is still… here… a-and so I feel like I _have_ to use them. Because if I don't, then what if she…!" Aila caught herself before she got too emotional, reeling herself back in as she let her hand fall to her side. "…Maybe if I keep using them… maybe she'll finally say something to me again… Maybe she won't… fade away…"

Yen Sid shared a look with Mickey, both of their expressions rather grave. It… almost looked like they were having a silent conversation, Mickey seeming increasingly frustrated, Yen Sid's expression remaining level. At last Mickey sighed and looked at Aila. "You can use your powers, Aila. But _please_ try not to use them more than you absolutely have to, okay? Especially in a place you're going to spend a significant amount of time in."

"Why not?" Aila asked. "I don't get why it's a problem…"

"Using your powers reveals your connection to Celina," Yen Sid explained calmly. "And there are some people, Aila, that have still not forgiven Spirits for what they did all those years ago. They may want to do you harm."

Aila's eyes widened. Celina _had_ mentioned this: people that had killed her previous hosts just because they were connected to Spirits… Her heart sputtered fearfully as she breathed out an "Oh…"

"But," Yen Sid sighed, "your powers are, in essence, a good thing, as long as they are used correctly. Even without Celina's guidance, you have the capability to use them in the way they were intended, and help those who are in need. It is only natural, then, with a heart like yours, that you would feel such a strong desire to utilize them." He smiled kindly. "And, yes, perhaps your connection with Celina will strengthen if you do."

"Hang on, but if there are bad guys that will come after her for using them…" Donald began, sounding concerned.

Yen Sid nodded. "Yes, that is why I am sending all three of you. Be vigilant, and careful. Donald and Goofy, do what you can to keep this mission as quiet as possible, and keep Aila's connection to Celina secret." Yen Sid looked at Aila very seriously again. "If you do not wish to risk it, you may refuse this task, Aila. The choice is yours."

Aila furrowed her brow. "If I refuse… will that world die?"

"Unless another Spirit happens upon it in time… yes."

Aila remembered Rafiki saying something similar, how if she hadn't come along, the Pride Lands might not have ever recovered from the Darkness that had infected that world so deeply. She balled her fists. "Then I accept."

Yen Sid smiled. "Very good." He turned to Mickey. "They will need a path opened up."

Mickey looked unhappy but nodded anyway, summoning his Keyblade. Without a word he turned toward the window and held out his Key, a beam of light firing from its tip out into the stars. The light glowed brighter and brighter, Aila shutting her eyes out of instinct after all the times she had witnessed Sora open paths in the past. After a few seconds, the light died down and everyone blinked a few times. Mickey sighed. "Okay, the path is open." He turned to Aila, Donald, and Goofy, eying them seriously. "Be careful."

Goofy saluted, Donald and Aila quickly following his lead and doing the same. "You can count on us, Master Yen Sid, sir!" Goofy promised. "We'll get this world back in tip top shape in no time!"

Yen Sid nodded. "Your ship is outside."

All three of them fell out of their salute as excited smiles spread across their faces. "You mean the one we were using last time?" Aila asked. Yen Sid nodded and she beamed at Donald and Goofy. "Yay! That one's my favorite!"

Donald and Goofy beamed back. Donald then puffed out his chest again and started heading for the door. "Okay team, let's go take care of this!"

Aila quirked a brow at Goofy as Donald passed them both. "Who put him in charge?" she muttered. Goofy chuckled.

Donald scoffed as he opened the door. "Obviously I'm in charge now while Sora isn't here."

Aila put a finger to her chin. "I dunno, I feel like we should vote or something…"

"What! No way! Now hurry up!"

Aila glared as she followed Donald out the door, Goofy wishing goodbye to Mickey and Yen Sid before following as well. All three of them missed the way Mickey's fists balled with nervous energy as the door swung shut behind them.

Their old ship was indeed waiting for them outside, the three of them hurrying aboard and preparing for liftoff. Aila was a little nervous about the whole 'people might try and attack you if they figure out you're a Spirit' thing, but she supposed that had always _kind of_ been her understanding of the situation anyway, and besides, she was too busy being excited. They were on the ship again! _Their_ ship! And they had a mission, a world that needed saving! Finally, something that she could throw her focus into, something that required her to be with her friends!

Donald pressed a few buttons and Sora's usual seat vanished into the floor, the remaining three chairs rearranging themselves a bit so the current passengers could pilot the ship more easily.

"Wait wait wait," Aila said as Donald started the ship and their assent into the stars began, the three friends having been still discussing the whole Donald-being-in-charge thing as they prepared the ship. "What do you mean I'm _last_ in line to lead the team?!"

Donald rolled his eyes. "What do you mean what do I mean? Obviously you're last!"

"Why?!"

"Well you're the youngest to start…"

"So?! Ageism!"

" _And_ you're the most inexperienced by at least a year. AND you were the last to join the team! Pick a reason!"

Aila slumped down in her chair and pouted. Okay, yeah, that logic checked out… but still! "I could totally lead this team if I needed to."

Goofy smiled encouragingly at her. "Ahyuck! I'm sure you'd be a great leader, Aila!"

Donald smiled too. "Maybe someday, but for now, just do what I say."

Aila puffed her cheeks out in annoyance. "Yen Sid mostly gave this mission to _me_ y'know."

"Oh really? You wanna go all by yourself, then?"

"…No."

"That's what I thought."

The world in question wasn't _that_ far away, but they decided that they weren't entirely sure how long this whole mission would take, so Aila called Radiant Garden to let Yuffie know she might be longer than a day. Yuffie seemed half annoyed, half proud, and told her to be careful and to call again when she knew when she'd be coming back. Aila promised she would.

"So," Aila said, leaning back in her chair as they approached the mystery world Mickey had unlocked a path to. "What's this place called, anyway?"

"Gwarsh, I wonder if you'll know about this world, Aila. The King said ya might know more places than the ones we've been to," Goofy mused. Aila nodded, wondering the exact same thing.

Donald pushed a few buttons, but nothing came up. "Looks like it's somewhere new – the ship doesn't have any information on it yet."

"Oh my, isn't that exciting! I'll have to start a new section!" a familiar voice called out from Goofy's pocket.

Aila leaned forward. "Jiminy?"

Jiminy poked his head out and waved. "Good to see you, Aila."

Aila giggled. "You could have said hi sooner, you know."

Jiminy smiled sheepishly. "My apologies, I got a little caught up in my writing, as usual… Also I wasn't _technically_ invited…"

"Stowaway," Donald muttered, seeming unsurprised that Goofy had smuggled the little cricket into their meeting. "I assume you're starting a new journal, since the last one got digitized."

Jiminy sighed. "Yes. My, that was an eventful day…"

Aila quirked a brow. "What day?"

Donald smirked. "Do you really not know, or are you faking again?"

Aila shook her head. "I really don't know! What happened to the other journal?"

Goofy frowned. "Well uh, it had a lot o' bugs in it, and a digital version of Sora had to get 'em out."

Aila blinked. "…What?"

The other three launched into the _weirdest_ story that had apparently happened shortly after Aila had left Disney Castle, which involved a Sora who _wasn't_ Sora and a Riku who was actually Jiminy's journal in digital form and… it all sounded very strange. Apparently Donald and Goofy had gotten sucked into another computer again too? Maleficent and Pete were also there, somehow, because of course they were. In the end, the 'bugs' (which were digital bugs, not creepy crawly bugs) had been a side effect of Naminé putting Sora's memories back together. Jiminy grumbled about _both_ his previous journals getting tampered with, but supposed he was glad that at least the last one hadn't been erased entirely. He was still trying to recreate the first one from memory, apparently. Poor guy.

Aila smiled as the others continued to talk, reveling in the familiarity of their voices. This was fun. It was weird without Sora here, but even so, she suddenly realized how much she'd _missed_ this. It was different for everyone else – they'd all gotten to go home. They'd probably all been relieved to be done with traveling. But Aila had just kind of been… drifting from one world to another, debating over how permanent she should consider her stay in each place to be. But being on this ship, with these friends… _this_ felt very… home-like. For the first time since defeating Xemnas, her mind didn't feel so quiet. Things didn't seem so empty. Aila subconsciously placed a hand on the headphones around her neck as she looked out at the stars.

A shame this sounded like it was going to be a relatively short mission.

The proximity alarm sounded and everyone eagerly looked out the window to try and get a glimpse of the approaching world. It was average sized, and appeared from this distance to be almost completely covered in lush green forests. Aila cocked her head, wracking her brain as she tried to figure out whether or not she might know this world. It seemed very pretty, wherever it was.

"Okay, here we go," Donald said, angling the ship down into the world's atmosphere, activating the cloaking on the way.

"Don't crash," Aila said. Donald just scoffed.

Donald _didn't_ crash, and actually his landing was a lot less scary than Sora's usually were – he was a more cautious flyer, it seemed. They set down in a clearing and Donald powered the ship down, hopping out of his chair and heading confidently for the door.

Goofy and Aila hurried to follow, Jiminy ducking back down into Goofy's pocket. Aila stopped halfway to the door. "Ah! Hang on," she said, rushing back to her seat and removing her headphones. She hurried back to the door to rejoin Donald and Goofy, who had graciously waited for her. She smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "It's kinda annoying to fight with them on…"

Donald and Goofy smiled warmly at her; it was nice that they hadn't gotten on her case about her weird new headphone attachment. She was a little embarrassed about how antsy silence made her now, but somehow the guys seemed to get it. Or at the very least they weren't making fun of her for it. Goofy put an arm around her shoulders. "If things get too quiet for ya, just tell us and we'll start singin'!"

"No, no singing," Donald insisted.

Goofy chuckled. "Aw, but you love singin', Donald! How did that song go? _Ohhhh swim this way we'll dance and we'll play_ , ahyuck!"

Aila laughed. "You picked the _worst_ one! Sing Under the Sea!"

" _Under the seaAaAa~_

 _Under the seaAaAa~!_ "

Goofy ended each line with a funny yodel, and Aila couldn't help but dissolve into giggles as he held the notes out extra long, clearly to try and make her laugh. Donald rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

"Okay, okay," Donald said, holding up his hands. "We can all sing later. We don't know what this world is, so let's try and be _a little_ quiet at least at first, got it?"

Aila's laughing fit calmed and she gave him a two-fingered salute. "Yes sir, fearless leader sir."

Donald rolled his eyes again. "Okay, ready?"

Aila and Goofy nodded enthusiastically. "Ready!"

Donald smiled and nodded back, placing a hand on the door. "Great, then let's go save the world."

KHKHKHKHKH

Hooray! Brand new adventure! Hopefully you guys aren't TOO disappointed that Aila isn't taking the Master test, but… she's not a Keyblader lol. I _could_ have made her go because of the whole Spirit thing? But idk, that seemed super Mary Sue and forced. So she's having her own little side story.

However, don't worry, we WILL see bits of Sora during his test, and I think probably Riku as well (we're catching up to where I've stopped writing haha so I can't be positive). I've got plans~

Sooo who has a guess on which world they're going to? I picked one that hasn't been in the games before~ CROSS YOUR FINGERS THAT THIS WORLD ISN'T A SURPRISE WORLD IN KH3 PLEASE LOL but if it is… haha it's okay I've got a plan for that too. We'll make it work.

The setup is officially over! From here on we're in story mode. Phew! I hate writing beginnings sooo much so I'm really glad all that's out of the way. Yen Sid is an exposition machine ugh.

Please leave a review to let me know what you think, I hope this final setup chapter didn't bore you! We'll be having fun next chapter, I promise!

Thank you so much for reading – see you in two weeks!

~Fade


	4. A Brave New World

Da dada daaa! Two weeks is up! (Slightly early because I'm soooo busy tomorrow so I was worried I wouldn't be able to post. But usually I'm gonna try to post on Friday afternoon/evenings!)

So, surprisingly hardly any of you guessed the world! Well, maybe surprisingly, I gave barely any clues at all, so I guess you all get a pass. But I was very impressed with those of you who got it! One person got it on the first guess and I was extra impressed! I won't say what it is yet so maybe you'll all be surprised as you're reading~

Art! Xxser3ndipityxX drew a really awesome imagining of what Aila might look like on the Monster's Inc. world! Check this out:

deviantart (dotcom) /xxser3ndipityxx/art/Aila-Monsters-Inc-Form-732466767

Remove spaces yada yada yada

I haven't finalized what Aila might look like on that world myself but I think this is SUCH a cool version, don't you guys?! Thanks, Ser!

Okay, on to the chapter!

* * *

" _There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater._

 _But sometimes it doesn't._ _Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life._ _That is the sort of bravery I must have now."_

― Veronica Roth, Allegiant

* * *

 **Chapter 4: A Brave New World**

One thing was for certain: this world was _gorgeous_.

The group had exited their ship in a forest clearing, sunlight streaming down upon them through smatterings of clouds that looked almost painted across a baby blue sky. Sturdy, lush trees stood tall on all sides of them, some with deep green leaves, others with white trunks and almost golden yellow foliage. The grass beneath their feet was wild and untamed and full of life, giving an extra spring to each step the awestruck visitors took. Aila took a deep breath, the scent of wildflowers and water filling her with a refreshing energy.

"Wow," Donald breathed, eyes wide as he took a look around.

"Okay, this is going on my list of potential places to live if I never get home," Aila mused.

Goofy nodded. "This is real nice! Uh, doesn't really look like a world in trouble to me…"

Donald re-cloaked their ship and started off in a random direction. "Just because it's pretty doesn't mean it isn't in need of help." He glanced back at Aila, who had hurried to follow him. "Okay, get to healing this place."

Aila quirked a brow. "It doesn't work like that."

"Well how _does_ it work?"

"Uh… I have to find a certain place… A 'pocket of ancient magic' or… something? That's what Rafiki called it. I think."

Goofy put a finger to his chin as the group made their way into the trees, the sunlight speckling their skin through the leaves. "Well, uh, how will we find one o' those?"

Donald stopped abruptly and turned to face Aila. "You lead."

Aila was startled. "Eh?! You said you were in charge!"

Donald put his hands on his hips. "Right, and my first order is for you to lead the way to this magic pocket or whatever it is. Maybe you can sense them."

Aila narrowed her eyes. "I don't know…"

Donald glared right back. "You got any other ideas?"

Aila sighed. "Fine, I'll… uh… try to sense which way to go?" She glanced around uncertainly, trying to see if any direction just kinda… _felt_ right. Everywhere looked the same, and she wasn't feeling anything in particular other than a little annoyed that Yen Sid had given them such vague instructions and wishing Celina would wake up and give her a clue. Her eyes landed back on Donald, who just gestured for her to hurry up. She frowned and looked in a random direction. "Uh… let's try this way?"

"Ahyuck! Sounds good ta me!" Goofy said enthusiastically. The three of them started walking, Aila trying to pay as much attention as possible to anything and everything. The sky started to become overcast as they made their way deeper into the woods, large grey clouds blotting out the sun like a storm was in the early stages of forming. Somehow the beauty of this place wasn't lost with the sun, though. Other than that… nothing eventful happened. Just a lot of walking.

"Ahhhh this is haaaard," Aila whined after half an hour, collapsing to her knees in frustrated defeat. "I hate this."

"Yeah, this is getting us nowhere," Donald grumbled, sitting on a nearby rock. "Are you really trying to sense something?"

" _Yes_ ," Aila grumbled back, glaring lightly at her friend. "I never said I could sense anything, you know. You just decided I could."

"Well, uh, how'd you find the place to heal the world the last time?" Goofy asked, inspecting a nearby tree like it might be hiding the answers within its bark.

Aila sat back on her heels and thought. "Umm… Rafiki showed me in the Pride Lands. The first time I was in the place I had no idea it was anything special. It seemed dark and spooky, and I just wanted to leave. Though…" Aila crossed her arms and furrowed her brow. "Lyall _did_ show up there out of nowhere the first time, and showed me how to get to a certain spot in the middle of the water and then showed me some weird dream things…"

"Can you summon Lyall still?" Donald asked, seeming intrigued. "Maybe _she_ could lead us there!"

Aila frowned, her shoulders sagging. "No… she hasn't been responding either…"

"Ah…" Donald frowned as well.

"Where was that place in the Pride Lands, anyway?" Goofy asked, cocking his head curiously. "I thought ya only weren't with us one time on that world."

"It was in that cave I fell into, we were separated then too, remember?" Aila said, playing with a few strands of grass on the ground while she tried to think of what to do. Donald and Goofy both let out an "ohhh" of realization. Aila stopped playing with the grass and looked up. "You know, I might have found one on another world too, now that I think about it."

"Really? Where?" Donald asked, looking excited.

"Atlantica… Demyx went down into this really dark canyon thingy and I swam after him, and then I touched… something and the whole place started glowing. It was kinda like what happened in the Pride Lands… I wonder if it was because it was the same kind of place…?"

Goofy nodded. "Sounds like it to me! So uh, both of those places were dark and down, so we should look for somewhere that's dark and down!"

"Oh good, that's very specific," Donald sighed.

Aila shrugged. "It's better than nothing." She crossed her arms and huffed. "This would all be much easier if Celina would just say something to me. She's been to a lot of worlds, so maybe she's been to this one before; she might know what we're looking for."

"Maybe now that you need her help, she'll have a reason to start talkin' again," Goofy suggested gently.

Aila frowned sadly at him and bowed her head, putting a hand over her heart. "Maybe…" Her fingers tensed over the fabric of her shirt as she tried, once again, to call to Celina, wishing with all her might that the Spirit would finally respond. "You're still there… right…?" she whispered, hoping for something, _anything_ …

A high pitched whispery breath startled Aila, her head snapping up and her eyes widening as they fell upon what looked like a little blue flame floating before her. "AH!" she yelped, nearly falling over herself as she scrambled backwards a few feet. The flame vanished.

"Did Celina do that?!" Donald asked, hopping off his rock and hurrying over to Aila, Goofy rushing to join them as well.

Aila shook her head. "I-I don't think so?"

Another whispery breath echoed around them, the blue flame appearing again a little farther away. Aila blinked, realizing now that the flame almost looked like it had little eyes on its front and tiny, wispy arms on either side of it that moved in a way that almost looked like it was beckoning the group to come closer. It even seemed to be looking directly at Aila with its pupil-less eyes, if that was possible. What in the world…?

The little flame 'blinked', and then dozens of blue flame duplicates appeared in a straight line behind it, like a trail through the trees.

"Uh, I think it wants us to go that way," Goofy said.

Donald nodded. "Well, let's go!"

Aila grabbed at Donald's arm as the duck started walking away. "Wait! What if it's a trap or something?"

Donald shrugged. "They don't seem dangerous to me. Looks like they're giving us a clue."

Aila hesitated, but then sighed in defeat. "Fine, we'll follow the weird flame thingies."

"Y'know, I don't think they're made outta fire," Goofy said, squinting at the little things as Aila stood.

Aila shrugged. "Well what else would you call them?"

"Hmmm…" was Goofy's only reply, his face scrunched up in seemingly deep concentration as the three of them started off along the trail the little flames were lining. Whenever they got close to one it would vanish, like a checkpoint being ticked off for them. It was super weird. Speaking of weird…

"Am I crazy, or should we have seen some Heartless by now?" Aila asked as they walked.

"Yeah, I expected that too," Donald replied with a frown.

Aila laced her hands behind her back. "Maybe you drove us to the wrong world…"

Donald rolled his eyes. "This was where the path the King opened led to."

"Maybe he opened the path wrong?"

Donald shot Aila a glare. "No way."

Aila smirked. Donald and Goofy were _fiercely_ loyal to Mickey. She should have known that suggesting he'd made any kind of mistake would be immediately shot down. Still, she felt like it was _possible_ , right? This world seemed fine. Could it really be dying?

The flames led the group to another clearing, but this clearing held something very strange: a large circle of tall, upright stones, clearly erected there on purpose by something other than nature itself.

"It's kinda like Stonehenge," Aila mused to herself, the last flame in the trail vanishing as she walked into the stone circle.

"Is this the magic pocket?" Goofy asked, he and Donald following Aila as they all examined the stones. Aila was a little worried about getting too close to any of them – they kinda looked like they'd fall over if they were hit by even a light breeze, and she wasn't in a hurry to destroy something that clearly held some importance here. How were the stones even standing upright? Undisturbed moss was growing on all of them, indicating that they'd been like this for quite some time. They were probably more secure than they looked, but still…

Donald put a finger to his beak. "It _does_ feel like there's some magic here… Do you feel any different?"

Aila realized he was talking to her after a couple of seconds and shook her head. "Not really?"

Donald crossed his arms. "Well how did you figure out you were in the right place before? Things started glowing?"

Aila shrugged. "Yeah, after I touched certain spots."

Donald gestured to the surrounding stones. "Okay, well, try that."

Aila frowned, glancing around at the stones skeptically. "What if I accidentally knock them over?"

"Who cares? At least we'll know if we're in the right place or not."

Aila sighed. Donald didn't seem to harbor her same respect for ancient architecture. But, she didn't have any other ideas, so she very carefully made her way over to the closest rock. She held up a hand and took a deep breath. "Well, here goes…" Slowly, she stretched her hand out toward the rock, her fingers getting closer and closer…

A scream from behind her startled them all, the sound ripping through the tranquility of the forest with a sudden sharpness that sent Aila's heart into a panic. On instinct she summoned her weapon and hastily spun around, searching for the source of the scream. Donald and Goofy summoned their weapons as well, everyone anxiously looking across the circle and into the woods beyond. Hoof beats thundered closer and closer, and in the next second a large black horse with a white nose and fluffy white ankles came rocketing into view.

The horse held a rider, a girl who seemed maybe just a bit older than Aila. Currently, the girl seemed to be losing control, her mess of long, curly red hair whipping into her face as her horse suddenly planted its hooves and skidded to a stop right outside the stone circle. The girl was thrown forward and sent tumbling into the circle, her long, dark teal dress getting rather torn and tattered as a result of the fall. She took a few ragged breaths, her back to the group as she pushed herself onto her knees and looked up at her horse.

"Angus!" the girl cried, sounding angry and betrayed by the throw. Despite Aila not being able to see her face to confirm, the girl's voice cracked in a way that told Aila that this girl had _definitely_ been crying. The horse just whinnied nervously and stomped outside the stones, its eyes wild and frightened. It seemed like it was refusing to come into the circle.

Donald and Goofy rushed toward the girl immediately, their weapons fading as they deduced that this girl wasn't a threat. Aila held back for a second, her eyes narrowing in confusion. That hair… it looked _super_ familiar. Was this… the girl from, oh, what was that movie going to be called… 'Brave'? One of the next Pixar movies that had been slated to come out when Aila had left The Land of Knowledge? She didn't know much at all about the film, and had only seen an early promotional picture of the main protagonist – it hadn't been slated to be coming out until the summer of 2012, and Aila had left nearly a year before that. But this… _could_ be the girl from the picture she'd seen, right…?

"Are you alright, miss?" Goofy asked as he and Donald reached the girl. She turned toward them, clearly startled, her blue eyes wide and red from crying, her breathing quick and shallow.

Aila shook herself out of her confusion over this girl's possible identity and dismissed her weapon before rushing to join her friends. She crouched down a little in front of the redhead. "It's okay, we won't hurt you," she promised, smiling what she hoped was a reassuring smile and holding out a hand to the fellow teen.

The girl blinked at the outstretched hand for a moment before very slowly taking it and allowing Aila to help her to her feet. She was taller than Aila, though not by more than a few inches. "Th… thank ye…"

Aila frowned. "No problem." She cocked her head, her brow furrowed in concern. "Are you hurt?"

The girl pulled her hand back and rubbed at one of her shoulders. "Ah… n-not really, no…" She had a thick accent. Scottish, maybe? Aila felt like that was in keeping with what she knew about this mystery movie she vaguely recalled being in development. Her heart fluttered excitedly. If this girl was a protagonist of a new Pixar film, that was _super_ cool!

Goofy frowned. "What were you runnin' from, miss, uh…?" He trailed off, searching for a name he didn't know.

"Oh, Merida," the girl said, tucking a strand of curly hair behind her ear and sniffling a little. "Me name's Merida."

Goofy smiled. "I'm Goofy! This here's Aila, and that's Donald."

Aila waved, and Merida smiled at each of them. "Nice ta meet you all…" Her smile fell. "An' ta answer your question, I… wasn't really runnin' from anythin'…" She sighed, her head bowing. "…No. No, I was." She clenched her fists, her shoulders shaking ever so slightly. "I just… I dunno… what ta do…"

"We'll help you!" Aila volunteered immediately, feeling more and more sure that this girl was the protagonist she was thinking of. She was even in the middle of a crisis! Even without knowing the plot of this one, Aila felt the familiar rush of excitement at the idea of getting to be involved in another story. When she eventually went back home, it would be so cool to know she was involved in the real life scenario when she finally watched the movie! Donald cleared his throat pointedly and Aila looked his way to see him glaring at her. She frowned. "What?"

"We're kinda in the middle of something," Donald reminded her with a frown of his own.

Aila rolled her eyes. "We're always in the middle of something." Aila leaned down so she was closer to Donald and whispered, "Besides, look how sad she is! You really want us to leave her like this? We can't do that!"

"That's very kind of ye," Merida said, drawing everyone's attention back to her. She crossed her arms over her middle and looked away, a glare settled on her brow as she sniffled once again. "But unless any of ye can change my fate, I dunno how ye'd be able to help."

Goofy scratched his head. "Huh… well, uh, changin' things is kinda somethin' we're _not_ supposed to do, so…"

Merida sighed, her head bowing again. "Then it's hopeless."

Aila frowned. Wow. This girl was really down. What could be happening that had no solution? Was there a villain taking over her home? They could fight it! Maybe someone needed rescuing – they were great at that too!

Aila opened her mouth, about to insist that _surely_ there must be a way they could help, when Merida suddenly gasped, her eyes trained on something over Aila's shoulder. Aila and the guys turned, all three of them surprised to see another little blue flame just outside the circle.

"Wha?" Donald squawked. "Another one?"

"You've seen one before?" Merida asked, sounding excited by that.

Aila nodded, not taking her eyes off the little flame. "We followed a trail of them to these rocks, but they went away when we got here."

"Me father doesn't believe in will-o'-the-wisps," Merida breathed quietly, walking past the others toward the blue flame. "But I saw 'em when I was a li'l girl. I knew it…"

Aila quirked a brow. So that's what they were? Will-o'-the-wisps? What a name.

Goofy snapped his fingers, like _he_ had just come up with that name himself. "'Wisps' is a better name for 'em than 'flame thingies'!"

Aila huffed and crossed her arms. "Fine, you name things next time."

Another trail of wisps appeared behind the first one Merida had approached. Merida glanced back at her horse, who was still outside the circle. "C'mon Angus," she said, gesturing for the horse to follow her. The horse whinnied fearfully and ducked behind one of the stones. "Angus!" Merida scolded, but Angus just continued to cower.

Merida rolled her eyes and turned back toward the wisps, starting to follow them into the woods on her own. Angus neighed nervously and ran around the outside of the circle until he was with his rider, trotting reluctantly behind her now that she'd left the stones. Aila was a _little_ unnerved by the fact that the horse wouldn't come inside the circle… She glanced around, feeling suddenly like she was being watched. "Um, should we follow her?" she asked Donald and Goofy.

"Gwarsh, she might get lost on her own," Goofy said with a frown.

Donald sighed heavily. "Fiiiine. But I'm not done investigating this circle."

"Yeah, yeah," Aila replied quickly before attempting to rush after Merida, only to be stopped by Donald's hand locking around her arm and pulling her to a harsh stop. She looked back at Donald, annoyed. "Yes?"

Donald glanced at Merida's retreating form before leaning in and lowering his voice. "So? You know her?"

Aila glanced after Merida as well before turning back to her friends. "Maybe…? Not really though. I don't know what's gonna happen. But I'm pretty sure we should help her!" She grinned eagerly. "I bet something really exciting will happen if we do!"

Donald seemed befuddled by her answer. "…If you don't wanna tell us what you know, you can just say that…"

Aila laughed lightly. "No, really, I think I saw her picture once, but that's it. But if I _did_ see her picture, that means she's important! So let's try not to lose her because I have no idea where she's going."

With a sigh, Donald released Aila's arm. "If you say so."

"C'mon, let's hurry," Goofy encouraged and the three of them rushed after Merida, who was thankfully not far off and still easy to find. Angus seemed spooked by their approach but calmed when he saw who it was, a hesitant trust evident in his big brown eyes. Merida seemed too focused on the wisps to even notice that anyone had joined her.

Aila fell into step with Merida, barely containing her excitement as she tried to figure out what was happening on this world. "So, what were you saying you were running fr—"

"Sh," Merida interrupted, putting a finger to her lips and not taking her eyes off the trail of wisps. "Ye might scare 'em away."

Aila frowned and quirked a brow. "But—"

"Sh!"

Aila pouted. She, Donald, and Goofy had been talking when they followed these things before, and it had been fine. And she was just _itching_ to get some answers – this was the first place she'd been where she didn't already know the story, and something in her _needed_ to figure it out. But Merida was obviously not in the mood to fill her in, and Angus didn't seem like he could speak, so… shoot.

They continued on through the trees, Merida shushing them every time anyone tried to say anything, to Aila's growing frustration. She was feeling okay before, but now, with only their footsteps and the faint sighs of the wisps, everything was beginning to feel too quiet. Aila fell behind Merida a few paces, her arms crossed and one finger tapping anxiously against her elbow as she tried to focus on any little details about this place she could find to keep her mind occupied. An oddly shaped tree, the way the grass sounded underfoot, a log that had gathered moss after a fall long ago… Ugh, why had she left her headphones on the ship? That had been stupid. She had felt a little embarrassed about being so attached to them now that she was with the guys again, but now she was really regretting not having anything to fill the silence. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Goofy giving her a concerned look. She instantly relaxed her shoulders, not having realized how tense she'd become. She winced internally, wondering how crazy she looked. It was just a little quiet – she was being dramatic. She forced herself to smile at Goofy, hoping to convey to him that she was fine. She shouldn't have to fill every single second with sound just because Celina wasn't around – Celina hadn't spoken to her all the time _anyway_. Why was she being so weird?!

Thankfully, Aila didn't have to internally berate herself for much longer, Merida finally coming to a stop up ahead as the last wisp vanished. Everyone peered around the redhead to see where the path they'd been following had led to. Aila quirked a brow, her eyes falling upon what looked to be a small, nondescript house hidden in the side of a hill.

Merida frowned. "Why would the wisps lead me here?" She didn't wait for an answer, instead marching confidently up to the house's tiny front door. She had to duck slightly, the door obviously made for someone a bit smaller than herself, but without hesitation she pushed it open and entered the house.

Aila blinked. "Uh… I probably would've knocked first?"

"C'mon," Donald said, leading Aila and Goofy inside the house as well. Angus waited outside, nervously.

The house, as it turned out, was not actually a house, but more like… a shop? A very… odd shop… which only seemed to sell carvings of bears. They hung from the ceiling, lined the walls, and littered the floor. Everywhere Aila looked there was wood carved into bears of varying shapes and sizes and poses. There were bear dolls, bear statues, bear figurines, bear clocks, utensils with bears carved into them, bears, bears, bears! Aila sweatdropped. Um… whoever ran this place clearly had a favorite animal?

"Oh!" an elderly voice called, and the group turned to see a small old woman carving, yep, a bear statue a little farther into the shop. The old woman smiled. "Look around! You holler if you see anythin' you like." She went back to her carving, using a hammer and chisel to create an illusion of fur on the statue. "Everything is half off."

Aila quirked a brow at the boys. This lady didn't seem that surprised about customers – how often did people stumble upon this bear shop in the middle of the forest?

Merida seemed equally as confused, glancing around the shop again with a baffled expression. "Who are you?" she finally asked, glancing back at the old woman again.

"Just a humble wood carver," the woman responded. She was sweeping up wood chips now. Aila blinked. That broom had appeared in her hands _really_ quickly. She saw Donald narrow his eyes suspiciously.

"Um," Merida said, picking up a wooden bowl with the face of a bear carved into it. "I don't understand… ah!" She dropped the bowl as she turned to find the old woman right behind her. Aila too was suspicious now – that woman had moved _really_ fast.

"See anything you like?" the woman asked, grinning toothlessly at Merida. She rushed to Merida's other side, leaving her broom behind. The broom, rather conspicuously, continued to sweep. Aila, Donald, and Goofy stared at the broom, all of them probably coming to the same conclusion at the exact same moment: yeah, this old lady was magic. And that could either be very good or very bad.

"Perhaps a touch of whimsy, to brighten any dank chamber," the old lady was continuing to Merida, the young redhead having yet to notice the still sweeping broom behind her.

"But, the will-o'-the-wisps," Merida said, sounding very confused. "They led—"

"Oh! This is one of a kind!" the woman gushed, grabbing a little wooden contraption that consisted of a bear that would snap at tiny carved salmon that spun on a wheel in front of it. "I'll make you a deal for this rare prize!"

Aila held up a finger. "Uhhh…" Merida turned, and Aila pointed to the broom.

Merida's eyes went wide. "Your broom!" she shouted, looking shocked. The old woman snapped her fingers and the broom froze, falling lifelessly to the floor. "It was sweepin'!" Merida said breathlessly. She turned back to the woman, her expression suspicious now. "By itself."

"That's ridiculous," the woman scoffed. "Wood cannot be imbued with magical properties. I should know, I'm a witc— whittler! Of… wood."

Aila stifled a giggle and Donald shook his head. This woman was so obvious! Did she really think she was fooling anyone? Aila and the boys had watched that broom sweep for at least ten full seconds.

"Ooh, oh!" the not-a-witch gushed, rushing over to another one of her carvings. "How about this conversations starter? It's made of yew wood, tough as stone!" She held up a wooden canvass with two bears carved into it, each stretching out a paw to touch claws in the center of the frame. Aila quirked a brow. Was that like the famous painting with God and Adam? But with bears?!

Merida took a few steps away from the woman, accidentally hitting some bear marionettes hanging from the ceiling and ducking out of the way. She tripped over the broom, which seemed to offend it, the thing springing to life once again and sweeping sharply near her feet a few times before rushing away and hiding further in the shop. Merida fell into a nearby table in her shock and a handful of wooden bear mugs began to fall to the floor, the old woman thrusting her hand out in a panic. The mugs halted their fall inches before hitting the floor, as if caught by some invisible force. There was a pause, and then the mugs very slowly lowered the rest of the way, landing unharmed, the old woman smiling innocently as she clasped her hands together over her dress.

"Oh my god," Aila whispered, having to clasp a hand over her mouth now to keep from laughing. There was no way this woman would keep trying to deny she was magic, right?

"You're a witch!" Merida exclaimed, turning excitedly to the old woman again.

The woman was, rather suddenly, calmly working on another carving at her table. "Wood carver~!" she replied in a sing-song voice.

"Oh come on," Donald sighed, rolling his eyes.

"That's why the wisps led me here!" Merida continued.

The old woman rushed to a piece of wood on a spinning stake and carved it into a bear inhumanly fast. "Wood carver!" she repeated, this time sounding a little annoyed.

"You'll change my fate!" Merida said, practically jumping up and down in excitement.

The old woman chopped a log in half, a carving of a bear _already_ on the inside. "WOOD CARVER!"

"Well now she's just using magic as she denies using magic," Aila muttered to the boys, both of whom nodded.

"Y'see, it's me mother," Merida began, clearly having already decided that this woman was going to help her.

"I'm not a witch!" the woman exclaimed angrily, throwing her ax to the side and pointing a long finger at Merida. "Too many unsatisfied customers!" The woman took a calming breath and smiled. "If you're not going to buy anything…" Her smile fell. "Get out." She snapped her fingers and every sharp utensil in the house flew to her side: knives, axes, carving tools, all pointing threateningly at Merida.

"Uh oh!" Goofy cried, he, Donald, and Aila immediately rushing to Merida and pulling her toward the door.

"Time to go!" Donald said frantically.

"No! The wisps led me here!" Merida protested, trying to fight against the group despite the sharp things being magicked closer and closer to her.

"I dooon't care!" the old woman bellowed, urging her weapons to force Merida and company toward the front door. "Get out, shoo, get! Be gone with you!"

Aila, Donald, and Goofy positioned themselves in front of Merida, Aila feeling the beginnings of Light pooling on her fingertips as she prepared to make a shield. Donald and Goofy were trying to push Merida out the door, but Merida was holding onto the frame, refusing to go.

"I'll buy it all!" Merida said desperately.

The old woman immediately stopped, her weapons jerking to a halt. "What? What was that?"

"Every carving," Merida said.

The weapons instantly turned toward the old woman, now seemingly threatening _her_. Aila was so confused. Were they alive?! What was happening here?!

The witch laughed nervously as she eyed the knives closest to her and then looked pointedly at Merida. "And how are you going to pay for that, sweetie?"

"With this!" Merida undid a necklace hanging around her neck and held it out to the woman, the silver pendant on the end glinting as it caught the sunlight. Aila blinked at it – there were three bears carved into the pendant too, with emeralds inlaid into it as the bears' eyes. Wait, was this _whole world_ obsessed with bears?! Maybe only bears and humans existed here? Wait, no, there was also that talking crow… and a non-talking horse…

"Oh my, that's lovely, that is," the woman said, seeming mystified by the pendant. Aila was a little surprised that a single necklace was going to buy this _entire_ shop's worth of carvings… it must have more value than she realized. But if Merida was walking around with something so valuable, then just how important was _she_?

The weapons fell to the floor and the woman swiped at the necklace, but Merida pulled it away. "Ah ah ah!" she said, grinning triumphantly now that she knew she had something this lady wanted. "Every carving _and_ one spell."

The old woman narrowed her eyes at Merida. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" She had a knowing twinkle in her eye now, like she thought Merida was in way over her head and messing with things she didn't understand. Which, honestly, Aila was starting to suspect as well. Merida didn't know anything about this lady – was she a good witch or a bad witch? Could she do anything other than make bears?

But Merida seemed undeterred. "I want a spell to change my mum. That will change my fate."

The old woman thought for another second. "Done!" She grabbed the necklace and then immediately shooed everyone out of the house, waddling out the front door herself as well.

"Oh this won't end well," Donald mumbled, looking like he very much regretted getting involved in all this already as he watched the old lady laugh and walk further away from her door.

"Where're you goin'?" Merida asked, seeming very confused.

The old woman tilted her head and snapped her fingers, her front door closing with a _slam_ that made everyone else jump.

"There," the woman said, smiling a satisfied smile as she turned and immediately headed back toward the door.

"What're you doin'?!" Merida asked as she was shooed out of the way by the tiny woman.

The old woman put a hand on her door and grinned at them all. "Never conjure where you carve, very important." She pushed the door open and entered the house again, everyone hesitating for just a moment before following.

Aila gasped lightly once she could see inside. The interior of the house was completely different now, not a bear carving in sight. Now it appeared to be a single dark room, only dimly lit by candles that adorned the rocky walls. A single large cauldron hung in the center of the room above a small fire, and if Aila squinted she thought she could see some books and potions lining the walls, and maybe a few other ingredient-type things. Her eyesight sharpened as her eyes glowed dimly, the knick-knacks becoming clearer to her as she made sure there was nothing else lurking in the shadows.

"The last time I did this was for a prince," the old woman mused as she made her way over to the cauldron. She clapped twice and suddenly a green glow sparked to life within the cauldron, startling everyone once again. "He demanded I give him the strength of ten men," the old woman was continuing with an easy smile. "And he gave me… this." She pulled another silver medallion out of her pocket and held it up for the group to see. This medallion had two axes carved into it, crossed over each other like you might see on a coat of arms. Aila's confusion grew. Was currency on this world… silver medallions? But the witch had clearly never spent this one. The old woman continued, "For a spell. A spell that would change his fate."

A chill ran up Aila's spine. Oh, that was too similar to Merida's situation. She glanced at Donald and Goofy. They looked uneasy as well.

Merida, on the other hand, only seemed more intrigued as she took a closer look at the medallion. "An' did he get what he was after?"

The old woman laughed. "Yes! And made off with an especially attractive mahogany cheese board." She waddled away, pocketing the medallion once again. "Now, what do I need… Oh!" She practically dove into a basket, grabbing a handful of something and throwing it into the cauldron. "Just a little of this…" The green liquid within the cauldron changed into a thick purple gas as soon as the ingredient was added, swirling within the pot like a storm cloud. Aila even thought she saw a bit of lightning sparking within it.

"Uhh, Merida?" Aila tried, tugging lightly on the older girl's sleeve. The old woman reached under a chair and pulled out what seemed to be a dried newt, cackling as she threw it into the cauldron. The contents of the cauldron changed once again in a puff of blue, flecks of snow seeming to spray up into the air. Aila's grip on Merida's sleeve tightened. "Are you sure about this…?"

The old woman waddled up to Merida and plucked a strand of hair from her head, Merida yelping in pained surprise as the woman retreated back to her cauldron. She smiled at the hair before dropping it into the pot, her concoction morphing into something that resembled molten lava.

Merida rubbed the spot on her head that the hair had been pulled from and glanced back at Aila. "I have no choice."

Aila frowned. "Are you sure? Maybe we could help if you'd just…"

Merida pulled away from Aila a little harshly. "This is what I need. You wouldn't understand. Besides, I don' even know you." Merida walked closer to the cauldron, the old woman having hopped up onto a little stool in order to more easily stir the potion within.

Aila's eyes narrowed and she looked at Donald and Goofy again. "This is clearly stupid, right?"

Goofy nodded, frowning deeply. "Seems like Merida's mind's all made up though…"

Donald sighed. "If she'd just tell us what the problem is…"

"Yeah, I'm sure we could help!" Aila said, gesturing exasperatedly. "I'm getting a really bad feeling here!"

The concoction within the cauldron started to glow, getting the gang's attention. The old woman had put on a welders mask and placed a hand over Merida's eyes. Aila's own eyes widened in realization and then she quickly shut them tight, the white glow from the pot burning brighter and brighter and brighter until, in a flash, it was over.

Aila blinked a few times, her vision taking a couple of seconds to return. The old woman grabbed some tongs and stuck them into the goopy green mess that was bubbling within her cauldron, her expression very triumphant as she muttered, "Now, let's see… What have we here…!" She pulled something round out of the cauldron, the green goop falling off of the thing to reveal… a pastry? The woman placed the treat carefully on her desk, looking very pleased with herself.

Merida looked less confident suddenly. "Eh… a cake…?"

The old woman glanced over her shoulder, her expression offended and angry. "You don't want it?"

Merida pulled back, recomposing herself. "Yes! I want it!" Her eyes narrowed. "You're sure… if I give _this_ to me mum… it will change my fate?"

The old woman chuckled. "Trust me. It'll do the trick, dearie." She wrapped the pastry in a cloth and handed it to Merida, ushering the young girl so quickly out the front door that Aila, Donald, and Goofy got stuck behind the woman in the doorway before they could follow Merida out. "Expect delivery of your purchase within a fortnight!" the old woman called after Merida. Merida walked, slightly dazed, toward her horse, not noticing as the woman suddenly reached toward her only to furrow her wrinkled brow in confusion. "Oh, what was that thing about the spell…?" she muttered, turning back toward the interior of her house.

"Excuse us," Donald said, crossing his arms and glaring at the woman.

But, rather than move to allow the gang to exit, the woman just looked at them and slammed the door shut behind her, grinning. "Okay, now you three."

Aila cocked her head. "We don't want any cake."

The old woman laughed and waved her hands dismissively. "Of course not! You're here for something else." A smile spread across her pointed face. "Isn't that right… Spirit?"

Aila and the boys gasped, Aila taking a nervous step back. "H… huh?"

The woman chuckled again. "What, no hello? I suppose I'm much older than when we last crossed paths, but I'd never forget those eyes of yours! What name do you go by this time, hm?"

Aila hesitated, feeling very blindsided. "…Aila?"

The old woman nodded. "Hm, I'll remember it this time! Not like, er, uh… Oh, what was your name before…? Must have just slipped my mind…" She shrugged and waddled over to one of her bookshelves. "Well, no matter. At least I still know where this is! I figured you might be coming back for it eventually. Cutting it close this time though, eh? The soil's getting annoyingly dry…"

Aila took a tentative step toward the woman. "Wait… you knew Celina…?"

The old woman didn't look up from the bookshelf, clearly searching for something within the tomes as she dismissively waved a hand over her shoulder. "Right, right, Celina was there, but that wasn't your name. Nasty luck, being a host, eh? But I suppose it can't be helped! Nice of you to try and do some good."

Aila looked at Donald and Goofy. Donald just shrugged. Goofy was watching the old woman very warily now. Aila frowned as she returned her gaze to the woman. So, Celina _had_ been here before, in one of her previous lives… If only Aila could ask her…!

The woman whooped in triumph as she pulled out a very dusty old role of parchment, spinning on her heel and marching back toward Aila. "Here you are! Free of charge, as we agreed." She winked. "Next time you'll have to pay up again though, got it?"

She shoved the parchment into Aila's hands, Aila feeling very confused as the woman spun her around and began pushing her toward the door. "W-wait, what is this? What are you talking about?"

"It's the same as last time!" the old woman crowed, continuing to push Aila toward the entrance. "I'll want that back before your lifetime's over, alright dearie? But I'm headed out of town so feel free to keep it for a while, just don't let it fall into the wrong hands! I kept it safe for a long time, I think it's your turn to do some of the work!"

The door swung open and the woman shoved Aila over the threshold, Aila yelping and stumbling to keep herself from falling into the dirt as she gripped the parchment. She heard Donald and Goofy yelp as well and turned to see them getting pushed out the door too, the old woman grinning toothily at all three of them. "Good luck! I've got to get packing!"

"Wait!" Aila called, reaching out as the woman slammed the door once again. The world seemed to shift, making Aila feel momentarily dizzy. She shut her eyes and stumbled, shaking her head as her dizziness passed and looking up only to find that the witch's entire house was… gone. No, wait… She stood up straight and looked around more carefully. They were somehow back within the stone circle, night having fallen at some point that Aila couldn't seem to remember. What in the…?

"Wak! What happened?!" Donald said, hopping to his feet and glancing around suspiciously. "Where'd the witch go?"

"Gwarsh, I think she teleported us," Goofy said, looking very befuddled as he glanced around at the stones.

"So she _can_ do spells that don't have to do with bears?" Aila half joked, feeling rather shaken. She frowned up at the dark sky, a few stars peaking through the clouds. "Since when did it become night time?"

Donald rubbed his temples and sighed heavily. "I take back everything about this world seeming nice, I don't like it after all."

"Well, uh, I guess we should take a look at whatever it is she gave ya, right Aila?" Goofy suggested. He and Donald gathered around Aila, who held out the parchment. It felt thick and old, and was rolled up like a treasure map. Aila held it out so everyone could see and, buzzing with anticipation, unfurled it. And on the inside was…!

…Nothing.

"It's blank?!" Donald said, tilting the parchment toward himself to get a better look.

"What the," Aila mumbled, pulling the parchment back toward herself and getting a closer look at it. She looked on both sides, but other than a few water stains, the parchment was completely devoid of marks. Uh?!

"Gwarsh, maybe she gave us the wrong paper," Goofy mused, rubbing his chin as he tried to make heads or tails of their situation.

"AHHH!" Donald squawked, hopping up and down in frustration. "That stupid old witch! She didn't even double check! And what was she even talking about, 'last time'?! We don't know anything about that!"

"Do ya think Celina would know, Aila?" Goofy asked.

Aila ran a hand down her face. "Sounded like it, but she's not talking! And I can't remember ever meeting that lady before – I don't remember anything from anyone's life but my own!" She looked at the parchment again and then sighed, sinking to her knees. "This is duuuuuumb."

The clouds shifted slightly, allowing the moon's rays to peak out from behind them. As they fell onto the parchment, it suddenly warmed in Aila's hands. She gasped, pulling it close to her face. If she squinted… were those a few lines appearing?!

Aila sprung to her feet and held the parchment up toward the sky, going so far as to stand on her tip toes as she tried to get the light to hit the map.

"What are you doing," Donald deadpanned.

"The moonlight touched it and I thought I saw something!" Aila breathed, staring intently at the paper above her head. One or two more lines seemed to be very slowly fading into view. The clouds shifted again, and as the moon was covered, the parchment returned to its completely clean state. "Ah! No!"

Goofy hummed, coming closer and looking at the map again. "Y'know, if moonlight was affectin' it, do you think maybe…?"

Realization lit up inside of Aila. "My powers!" Hurriedly, she placed the parchment on the floor and knelt before it, her hands hovering above it.

"Careful," Donald warned. "The King said to use them sparingly, remember?"

Aila nodded. Brushing the paper with her fingertips, she called forth just a tiny bit of Light, urging it into the parchment. The reaction was immediate. Deep brown lines blossomed into existence and weaved into one another, splitting off into more and more tiny lines until at last they all became still.

"It's a map!" Aila gasped, realizing that the lines had formed what seemed to be a hand drawn etching of their surrounding area. At the very center she could even see the circle of stones they were in! She grinned and removed her hands, only for her smile to fall as the lines immediately began to fade away. "Wait wait wait!" she urged, placing her fingers onto the paper and once again calling her power forth. The map returned.

"Great," Donald grumbled. "You're gonna have to keep using your powers for us to see it…"

"Gwarsh," Goofy said, rubbing his forehead worriedly. "Do ya think that's okay…?"

"Guess it can't be helped," Aila said, holding the map up and focusing on keeping her power flowing into it. She didn't mind using her powers anyway, regardless of Yen Sid's ominous warnings. She hadn't run into any trouble so far; he was probably being paranoid about it. "But… where are we supposed to be headed on here?"

"There's nothing marked?" Donald asked, peering over Aila's shoulder to see more clearly.

Aila shook her head and showed him. "This stone circle is in the center, and then everything around us is just… trees and stuff. But nothing's labeled… it all looks the same…"

"Maybe we're already where we were supposed to be then!" Goofy suggested optimistically. "If the circle's in the middle of the map, maybe that means it's most important!"

Donald snatched the map away from Aila, eliciting an annoyed whine from her as the map's lines faded away again. "Right, let's go back to my plan of you touching these stones. You don't have to use your powers for that, right?"

Aila huffed, crossing her arms and glaring at him. "No, the other places just kinda reacted without me doing anything I think."

Donald nodded. "Good. Try that for now. If it doesn't work we'll take another look at the map."

Aila sighed but stood anyway, deciding that since she didn't have any other plan she really had no reason to argue. One by one, she went to each stone and ran a hand along their smooth surfaces, waiting for something to happen. But none of them reacted.

"Okay, your plan failed," Aila said, holding up her hands in a shrug after trying the last stone to no avail. "Bad job, leader."

Donald grumbled. "It was worth a shot."

Goofy frowned. "Gwarsh, I guess we should look at the map again?"

Aila nodded. "That crazy lady wouldn't have given it to us if we didn't need it. Uh… well, probably, I dunno, she seemed kind of insane."

Aila took the map and placed it on the floor again, all three of them kneeling around it and studying it as closely as they could. It was a good thing Aila's power made it glow a little; she doubted Donald or Goofy would be able to make out the details otherwise now that night was really setting in. There were a few spots that seemed to be indicated to be lower in altitude, which Goofy thought might be helpful to check out (he was really stuck on the idea that wherever they were looking for was probably 'down' in some way). But it was a long shot, and there was more than one spot they could head to, all in varying directions. Aila was beginning to think that old lady had conned them all.

"Maybe we should look for a bear," Aila muttered, leaning even closer to the map. "That witch lady seemed obsessed with them, maybe she marked the map with a little picture of one or something…"

Donald sighed heavily, leaning back and glaring up at the clouds. "I don't see any bears on that thing, or anything that tells us where to go. This is pointless." He squinted. "Looks like it's gonna rain."

"Awesome," Aila sighed.

"Maybe we should head back to the ship an' try again tomorrow," Goofy suggested. He smiled. "Sometimes if ya sleep on somethin', an answer will come to ya in the mornin'."

Aila rolled up the parchment and stood. "I'll probably have dreams about maps and bears doing an elaborate dance number or something."

Goofy laughed. "That sounds fun!"

Donald glanced back out into the surrounding trees again but then sighed and conceded. "Yeah, okay. I don't wanna be wandering around in the rain all night anyway."

Aila nodded, but then frowned. "…One of you remembers the way back to the ship, right?"

Donald shot her an incredulous look. "You really are the worst at directions, you know that? Come on, follow me."

The three of them traipsed back into the forest, Donald leading the way. Aila opened the map again after a few minutes, trying to keep her mind busy.

"Oh," she gasped when the map's image reappeared.

Donald glanced back at her. "What is it?"

Aila showed the map to Goofy, who was closer. "I think we always stay in the middle of what's on here. Or, the map does. See? That rock formation is back there now."

Goofy looked excited. "Gwarsh! So the map moves when we move! Look, there's some more places at the top now that we hadn't seen before."

Donald crossed his arms, still leading the way as he thought. "So there _could_ be some kind of marking on the map, but we just weren't in a place where we could see it." He sighed. "That means we'll still have to wander around until we uncover the right section."

Aila frowned, still studying the map. "True… man, what a useless map. It's only barely more helpful than us wandering around without it."

Donald glanced over his shoulder again. "We'll look at it again tomorrow, Aila. Put it away for now."

Aila glanced up at him. "You're being paranoid."

"Maybe," Donald agreed with a shrug, "but the King told you only to use your powers if you really had to. You don't have to right now. And you used them a lot today."

Aila made a face, but rolled up the map anyway, letting her powers subside. "I don't get why everyone's suddenly so concerned. I used them all the time on our last adventure and nobody attacked me. Well, I mean, other than the people we were gonna fight anyway."

"Maybe that's why the King is worried now, because now you've used them a certain amount. Maybe the more you use them, the worse things get."

"That… doesn't make sense, does it?"

"Ah, whatever. But the King said not to, so don't."

Goofy frowned lightly. "Didn't Celina not wanna teach ya how to use 'em for a long time…? Maybe she had a reason…"

Aila couldn't really argue with that. She had always assumed Celina was just being stubborn, that she didn't want Aila to feel burdened or whatever, but had there been even more to it…? She felt a small tap on her head and looked up at the sky, another raindrop hitting her right in the eye. "Ah…"

"C'mon, let's hurry," Donald said, picking up the pace. Aila pulled her hood up and Goofy summoned his shield to try and use as an umbrella and they quickly followed, the trio making their way through the remaining trees as fast as possible. By the time they reached the ship it had really started pouring, all of them hurrying inside and sighing in relief as soon as they were safely indoors.

Goofy shook out his ears a little, his shield only having kept him partially dry. "Gwarsh, it was all sunny when we got here."

"I guess this world gets a lot of weather," Aila said, pushing her hood down. She shivered lightly, but then suddenly felt pleasantly warm. She glanced over to see Donald holding up his staff, a soft orange light emanating from the top.

Goofy sighed happily. "Thanks, Donald!"

Aila felt her clothes and realized that she was now completely dry thanks to whatever spell Donald had just cast. She grinned. "Yeah, thanks."

Donald smirked. "No problem."

Goofy whipped up a very quick dinner and then Donald ushered everyone to bed, insisting that they all be up as early as possible tomorrow to try and figure this whole mess out. Aila bid goodnight to the boys as they all headed off to their respective rooms and couldn't help but smile as she entered her own. It was still so plain, but it felt like home. She flopped onto the bed, the blankets and sheets cold from lack of use, and slipped her headphones over her ears for a few minutes, staring up at the ceiling she'd grown so used to seeing last year. She considered looking at the map again, but Donald's earlier insistence about waiting until the morning made her reconsider. She didn't want him mad at her. Not that he'd know, but… eh, what was the point of looking at the map anyway. She'd see it in the morning.

Unplugging her headphones, she set her music player to speaker mode and turned the volume down pretty low, not sure how much the sound would travel through the walls. She had been compiling a list of songs that were calming enough to sleep to, since even sleeping seemed lonelier nowadays. Pressing play on the first one, she removed her jacket and shoes and slipped between the sheets, taking her hair out of its usual ponytail and hoping that the familiarity of her pillow here would help lull her to sleep quickly. But still, her mind was buzzing. Celina _had_ been to this world… A lot of good that knowledge did her now. She rolled over and scrunched her eyes shut tighter, a calming chorus filling the room with whispered beats from her bedside table. Hopefully Goofy was right and an idea would come to them all in the morning.

But really, how much help could dreaming be…?

KHKHKHKH

Sora opened his eyes, blinking a few times in the sunlight of another new world. He sighed. "Okay, I've gotta be getting close," he muttered to himself. "I think I'm…" He counted worlds off silently on his fingers. "…about halfway? Yeah!" He grinned and pumped a fist. "Take that, test!"

He felt momentary confusion when he caught sight of his own arm and had to remind himself for like the fifteenth time that he was back to a younger version of himself, around fourteen. He and Riku had started the test right before Destiny Islands had fallen to Darkness around two years ago, and that apparently had meant that they were back to how they looked then, too. Sora hadn't realized just how much he'd grown, or how much muscle he'd built up since then. His arm looked so scrawny now. So weird. This test was weird!

"Okay, so, where am I this time," he mused, taking a better look around. He was standing in the center of an outdoor area, the spot he was in a bit lower down than the buildings on every side. A blue tile mosaic was shining beneath his feet, the four-sided path it made up surrounded by four flowerbeds with yellow, pink, and red flowers arranged in very uniform stripes. Waterfall fountains flowed behind each flowerbed, and Sora could hear even more running water nearby. This place was beautiful. But, hang on… the architecture of the buildings looked strangely familiar. He blinked, awed. "Is this… Radiant Garden…?"

"Come on, we need to hurry."

"Where're we going…?"

"I told you, it's a surprise."

Sora glanced toward the upper level of the area and noticed a man with long blond hair and a clean-shaven, rather pointed face walking brusquely toward a set of white gates, his green eyes trained on his destination. He wore a long white coat, like something a doctor or a scientist might wear, and seemed to be very determined in the way he was moving. As the man continued walking, Sora realized he was leading a young girl by the hand, her short jet-black hair pulled into two pigtails on the sides of her head. Her light blue top fell almost like a dress over capri black leggings, her little white sneakers scuffing against the stone as she did her best to keep up with her older companion's long strides. Sora felt his eyes widen, both recognition and disbelief filling him as the little girl turned to look his way, her extra-bright blue eyes, the exact same one's he'd come to know so well over the past few months, locking with his.

"A… Aila?"

KHKHKHKHKH

Hehe~ Told ya we'd be seeing some of Sora's test…

Okay, so, confession… I don't _love_ the movie Brave. Lol. Buuut the environment worked really perfectly for what I wanted to happen in this arc, and also it seemed like it would take the right amount of time (aka around two days), so… here we are. I'll try to keep my personal feelings about the movie out of this though, since I know lots of people love it and I obviously want this to be a good world! But haha I felt like I needed to say this just, like, as a disclaimer or something. Sorry, Brave fans. Ironically I am really enjoying writing this part though! (I deleted that stupid crow from existence though. He was pointless and I hate him. Bye, crow.)

So, what did you guys think? I hope you're liking it, this is kinda the first time we're flying without a script, you know? I'm excited to read all of your reactions, so please leave a review!

Thank you so much for reading, see you in two weeks (HOPEFULLY – if it's three weeks because of the holidays please don't kill me!) for the next one. Until then!

~Fade


	5. Nightmare

Ahh I'm sorry this is a day late! I had family staying with me over the holidays and they stayed more days than I was expecting… So my writing schedule got a little messed up. But! Here it is!

I don't have much to say before we start other than thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I'm loving how many people are into this story already; I'll do my best not to disappoint.

Now then, onward!

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" _He leans in, resting his weathered hand on the bed. "Treat all the bad things like dreams, Kenzie. That way, no matter how scary or dark they get, you just have to survive until you wake up."_

― Victoria Schwab, _The Unbound_

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 **Chapter 5: Nightmare**

Sora's feet had begun carrying him to the plaza's upper level before his brain had even started moving again. That couldn't be Aila, could it?! She was so small! She couldn't be more than around five years old. Though she did tend to look a little young for her age even at fifteen so it was hard to tell…

"Did you say something?"

Sora startled, tearing his eyes away from the little girl and realizing that he was suddenly standing directly in front of the blond man. Whoops, had he run up here without thinking? "Oh! Uh, n-no! Sorry! Uh…" He glanced away, his mind racing to find an excuse to explain why he'd come up to them. He remembered that the version of Jiminy he'd met in this test hadn't known who he was, and obviously Aila at this age wouldn't know either. So he should probably pretend he had no idea who she was, too. Man, was this how Aila had felt when she'd met him last year? This was stressful! Sora scratched his cheek awkwardly. "I was waiting for a friend and I heard people talking and uh… came to check…? Uh but obviously you aren't… him… so…"

The blond man frowned, his green eyes narrowing. "I see…" He didn't sound very convinced.

Sora decided to deflect. He put on his best disarming smile, focusing his attention back to the girl. "Anyway, hi! I'm Sora!"

The little girl, who had been watching Sora with big, curious eyes this whole time, smiled a little back. "Hi… I'm Aila." Sora blinked, awed. So it really was her. Even her voice was so little! He suddenly wished he had a camera so he could show the current version of Aila how tiny she'd been.

The blond man shot Aila a sharp look. "Aila, what has Mr. Ansem said about talking to strangers?"

Aila ducked her head, looking guilty. "S-sorry…"

Sora frowned, glaring lightly at the man. Jerk, trying to keep Aila from talking to an awesome friend. Sure, okay, they weren't friends yet but… whatever, still rude. He forced his smile back into place, trying to hide his annoyance. "And you are…?"

The man's lips thinned into a hard line as he looked Sora over again, like he was sizing him up. "…My name is Even. Now then, if you'll please excuse us, Sora, we have somewhere we need to be. People are waiting for us, and we're already behind schedule."

Aila looked up again, her little brow slightly furrowed. "Are we going to the la—"

"Sh!" Even scolded, glancing at Aila. "We don't know this boy, Aila."

Aila shot Sora a quick, unsure glance before leaning a little toward Even and lowering her voice to a whisper. Not that that made it any harder for Sora to hear her, since he was standing so close, but he decided to play dumb so she didn't get in trouble, his eyes wandering as he pretended to take in the sights rather than listen in. "Mr. Ansem said not to go down there without him…" Aila whispered, sounding very much like she didn't want to go against Ansem's wishes. Where could she be talking about? Maybe Ansem's lab?

"He will be joining us later," Even assured. He smiled, though something about it seemed… forced. "If you're good, I'll buy you ice cream this evening. How does that sound?"

Aila's eyes immediately lit up with excitement, all traces of concern gone. "Okay!"

"Hey! What's taking so long?!"

Sora turned, and then very nearly had a heart attack. A very familiar-faced man with slicked back dark hair and an eye patch covering his right eye was stalking toward them, the dark grey coat and pants and elbow-length white gloves he wore clearly some type of uniform, though the tattered red bandana around his neck was probably a personal addition. His golden eye was narrowed angrily as he stomped up to the group, and although he looked different without his Organization cloak, and his hair was a bit shorter and lacking any gray, everything else about him down to the scar on his left cheek was exactly like the man Sora was remembering.

"Xigbar?!" Sora gasped, taking a step back in his shock. He debated summoning his Keyblade, but resisted the urge for now. Better to get a feel of the situation before instigating a fight right off the bat… But Xigbar was bad news!

The dark haired man shot Sora a weird look as he came to a stop in front of the group. "Who? Name's Braig. You must have me confused with someone else." Braig scrunched up his face in annoyance, mumbling an added, "Dumb kid…" He turned back toward Even and Aila, putting his hands on his hips. "Boss man's waitin', what's the hold up?"

Sora frowned, his heart racing. This… was definitely Xigbar, wasn't it? Why would he say he was someone else? Was this who he was before getting turned into a Nobody? Sora glanced at Aila only to find that she was now halfway hiding behind Even's legs. She looked worried again. Was she scared of this guy…?

"Apologies. The child snuck away from me for a few minutes, and then our path was intercepted," Even grumbled, casting a very pointed look Sora's way. Sora chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, feigning sheepishness.

Braig was not amused. "Beat it, kid! Go bother somebody your own age, will ya?"

Sora glared. "What, no time to talk?"

Braig scoffed. "As if!" He gestured for Sora to move along. "We grown ups have important work we've gotta get done. Keep moving, or I'll be forced to write you up. Got it?"

Write him up? Sora's eyes narrowed. Was this guy seriously in some position of authority around here? Who allowed that to happen? He gestured to Aila. "What about Aila? Does she have work to do too?"

Even straightened, looking down his nose at Sora like the boy was being very invasive. "Aila is under our care, as decreed by Ansem himself, and is to remain with us at all times. She has no time for mischievous teens like yourself. Now, as Braig said, we have much to do. Have a nice day. Come along, Aila."

Even began walking toward the gates again, Aila hurrying to remain by his side, the girl clearly doing her best to keep Even between herself and Braig at all times. Yeah, she obviously didn't like Braig. Sora gritted his teeth. So Xigbar had always been a jerk, huh? Sora made to follow, but Braig immediately placed himself in his path.

"Didn't you hear me? Move along." Braig's one visible eye narrowed. "This is your last warning." With that, he turned on his heel and followed Even and Aila through the gates. Aila glanced over her shoulder once and smiled lightly, waving ever so subtly back at Sora. Sora lifted a hand and waved a little back, his brow still furrowed. Even said Aila was 'under our care'… Whose care? His? And Braig's?! No way. That couldn't be right. It didn't sound like either of them was her father if Ansem had to decree her custody situation (thank goodness for that – Xigbar would make a terrible father). But she didn't seem _that_ averse to going with Even to… wherever he was taking her. Still, watching him lead her away gave Sora the weirdest feeling of foreboding…

"Suspicious, right?"

Sora jumped and spun around, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head as they landed on the one who'd just spoken. An older teen dressed in an orange vest and yellow scarf seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his baggy tan pants as he glared at the gates Aila had just gone through. But it was the boy's physical features that really caught Sora's eye: shocking red hair, spiked straight up, and bright green eyes. He looked just like a younger version of…

"Axel?" Sora breathed before he could stop himself. He covered his mouth with a hand, wincing. Ah, he needed to stop saying people's names before they'd introduced themselves… How had Aila kept herself quiet during their adventures?

The boy quirked a brow at him. "Axel? Heh, never heard of him. Like his name though! My name's Lea." He held out a hand, smirking. "Get it memorized."

Sora smiled a little bemusedly as he shook Lea's hand. "Uh, right… I will. Lea. Got it. I'm Sora." He pulled his hand back and frowned. "What were you saying?"

Lea put a hand to his chin, his eyes narrowing but his smirk staying firmly in place. "Ah, right. I was saying it was suspicious, don't you think?"

Sora cocked his head. "What is?"

Lea gestured wildly. "That girl! She just appeared out of nowhere one day, and nobody's talking about it! They claim she was born in the castle, but who's there to give birth to her, huh? It's just a bunch of dudes! Super weird, right?"

Sora rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, I guess…?" Wait, she was born here? He thought Mickey had said Aila had only visited Ansem before being taken in…

"That other kid made a little more sense," Lea was continuing, hand on his chin again. He looked like he was really thinking hard about some mystery he was determined to solve. "At least there _was_ a woman living there when he was 'born'. But nobody even knew she was pregnant, and it was just never mentioned and then suddenly there's some kid there! And it's not like he even looks like that woman did. Not really. So where'd he come from, huh? First the boy, then the girl, almost out of thin air! So weird!"

Sora took a step forward, curiosity sparking within him. "What's the boy's name?"

Lea crossed his arms, still thinking. "I think his name's… Donny? Dan? Daniel? I've never actually talked to him. Ansem the Wise keeps those kids pretty close. Doesn't like them talking to strangers." He narrowed his eyes again. "Like I said: suspicious."

Ah, so he _was_ talking about Danny, too. "Do you know the girl's name?" Sora asked, curious now about how much Lea knew about his friends.

Lea looked up at the sky. "Yeah, Aila. It took me forever to find someone who actually knew it – she barely says a word to anyone. I think she's not _allowed_ to talk to anyone. But apparently I'm the only one who finds that weird. Like I said, for some reason nobody's talking about these kids."

"Because they are not our concern."

Sora and Lea both turned to see another teen headed their way. This one gave Sora pause. He wore a dark blue, zip up jacket adorned with a crescent moon over white pants, his icy blue hair slicked up into a point, his turquoise eyes inquisitive yet serious. He bore somewhat of a resemblance to Saïx, albeit younger and… not as creepy. Also without a big 'x' shaped scar on his face. Sora held his tongue this time, mostly just super confused by yet _another_ potential Organization member showing up out of nowhere, but his eyes narrowed a bit anyway and his muscles tensed ever so slightly with distrust.

Lea sighed dramatically. "Isa, you're such a killjoy."

Isa, as the boy was apparently called, came to a stop next to them and quirked his brow. "I am? I am merely answering your question as to why no one talks about those kids. Most people living in this town wouldn't even know who you were talking about if you mentioned them. They're none of our business."

Lea huffed, crossing his arms again. "Yeah, but maybe they should be! I heard a rumor that…" He leaned toward Sora and Isa conspiratorially, lowering his voice and continuing, "…I heard they do _experiments_ on those kids."

Sora's eyes widened, but Isa just scoffed. "That's insane. Ansem the Wise is a good man."

Lea shrugged. "Maybe he's not as good as we think he is."

Isa's eyes narrowed. "Hm… You shouldn't start rumors about someone, especially without any proof."

"Hey, I heard that rumor from someone else, I'm not starting it." Lea grinned. "Besides, you and I are gonna get proof, right?" He turned to Sora excitedly. "Isa and I are gonna break into the castle and see what _really_ goes on in there."

Isa sighed. "You're still on that…?"

"Of course I am! I can't just let something like this go!"

"I really wish you would…"

"Ugh! Killjoy!"

Sora frowned. "Why don't you just ask to take a look around? If Ansem really is a good man with nothing to hide, then wouldn't he let you?"

Lea laughed. "Yeah right, they don't let anyone inside anymore. Not unless you live or work inside _or_ you get _specific_ clearance from Ansem the Wise. And he's not gonna give just anybody clearance, especially lately. Apparently he's become super paranoid in the past few years, he's practically a shut-in now. Ever since the incident…" Lea waved a hand. "But don't you worry, in a few months, we're gonna see with our own eyes what goes on in there!"

Sora quirked a brow. "A few months?"

Lea shrugged. "Hopefully. I mean, something like this takes a lot of planning. The timing's gotta be just right." He grinned mischievously. "What if those kids aren't actually kids at all! Maybe they're monsters created by science just _pretending_ to be kids! We'll catch them mid-transformation!"

Sora felt a twinge of annoyance at that. "They're not monsters."

Lea rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling. "Yeah, probably not. Sorry, I got carried away…" He smiled. "Sora, you wanna help us? You're probably dying to know what goes on in there too, right?"

Sora smiled. "I am, but I don't think I'll be here that long. I'm, uh, just visiting."

Lea's expression fell. "Aw man. So much for a new recruit." He straightened up and smiled again. "Oh well. If you happen to find out anything else while you're here, let me know, will ya? If I see you again someday I'll tell you what we discovered during our awesome break in!"

"Yes, yell that louder, why don't you," Isa mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Lea laughed. "Ah, no one's here but us, stop worrying. Anyway, it was nice meeting you, Sora! Hope to see you around!"

Sora smiled. "Yeah, nice meeting you… Lea."

Lea grinned. "Ha, good memorizing!" He turned and began walking away, gesturing to Isa as he went. "C'mon, Isa, I think you owe me lunch."

"You have that distinctly backwards. _You_ owe _me_ lunch."

"Ohh, right. My bad!"

Sora watched the two teens go, not sure how to feel. Lea seemed… really friendly. In fact, Sora kinda liked him. Would that nice kid really turn into Axel someday? He supposed Axel ended up being at least somewhat friendly in the end. But Isa… how could he become Saïx? Isa didn't seem evil or anything. He seemed more serious than Lea, sure, but Saïx was cold and vicious. A murderer. Or at least, he'd attempted to… Sora balled his fists, but then relaxed. No use dwelling on it. These people were just part of a dream, right? He needed to find the Keyhole and wake this place up so he could move on to the next world.

Still… He glanced back toward the gates Aila had been led through, feeling strangely uneasy. Something felt… different about this place. Speaking of different, where were his Dream Eaters?! Had they ditched him? He glanced around the area, realizing for the first time that the Spirits he'd made friends with during the test so far were strangely absent. They'd been following him to each world, but now…? Sora crossed his arms. Something wasn't right. He could just feel it. But was he feeling anxious because of this place, or because of Lea's implications about what might be going on with Aila in that castle…?

Sora shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "I should search for the Keyhole. That's what the test is about," he muttered aloud. He started off into town, but as he did he couldn't help but glance one more time back toward the gates that led to the castle. He tried to squash the worry needling at his heart. Aila was fine. It was weird that she was here, and Braig seemed like a jerk, but that other guy seemed okay, and Ansem the Wise was probably taking care of her. She was fine.

…Right?

KHKHKHKH

Aila wandered down the hallway of her old school, clutching her backpack straps as she kept her head down. It was best not to look people in the eye. It only made them uncomfortable when she did. Muffled sounds of other students echoed all around her, like her ears were blocked with water, and yet somehow each step she took sounded amplified. What was this feeling of dread…?

"Watch where you're going!"

Aila looked up, a very pretty teenaged girl snapping into focus before her. The girl's light hair was pulled into a high ponytail, each individual lock slicked back perfectly against her head. Her bubblegum lips were pursed into a deep frown, her flawless jade eyes narrowed into a glare. "You almost walked into me!"

Aila shrunk back, averting her gaze. "Ah, s-sorry, Brina…"

"Maybe if you weren't looking at the ground all the time, you wouldn't be such a hopeless klutz." Aila looked up again, only to have Brina make a face of disgust. "Ew! Don't look at me with those alien eyes!"

Aila clutched her backpack straps a little tighter and quickly looked away, glaring as she glanced down the hall. Her glare melted as three familiar figures caught her eye: Sora, Riku, and Kairi! She lifted a hand and waved. "Hi guys!"

All three of them looked confused. Kairi cocked her head, looking to Sora and Riku. "Is she saying hi to us?" Riku shrugged.

Aila's hand fell. Now it was her turn to look confused. "Why wouldn't I…? We're friends."

Sora crossed his arms, his confusion still clear on his face. "I don't think so?"

Brina sauntered up to the trio, smiling as she pulled Kairi into a hug, which Kairi eagerly returned, much to Aila's growing apprehension. "Don't listen to that freak, you know she's always living in her own world," Brina scoffed.

Sora grinned at Brina. "Tell me about it!"

Aila's heart stung. "Wait… what?"

Brina turned to face her again, her eyes narrowing into a scathing glare. "Why on earth would they be friends with a nobody like you? They're _way_ popular – everybody loves them, so they'd be friends with someone like me! God, you're so pathetic trying to tag along with the big kids, you loser."

Aila took a step back, feeling very much like she was going to cry. "That's not true! Guys, come on, tell her we're friends! S-Sora? We… we went through so much together!"

Sora frowned. "Are you serious? Brina's right. We can do way better than you. You know we just felt sorry for you, right?"

Kairi nodded. "Who even are you? Everyone knows who we are. But you? No one even knows your name."

Riku turned, beginning to walk away. "Come on, let's go. She's not worth our time. We have somewhere important to be."

Sora and Kairi immediately followed, Brina pausing for just a second to throw one more cruel smile Aila's way. "What made you think you were allowed to look any of them in the eye?" And off she went, falling into step with the others, the four of them laughing and talking together like they hadn't just left Aila shattered in their dust.

Aila was devastated. No way! They really picked Brina over her?! But… she thought they were friends! Was it all a lie…? Demyx walked by with a group of young upright bear cubs sporting clothes and backpacks, laughing at some joke Aila hadn't heard. Aila didn't take much notice of him, too upset about Brina's usurping of her friends. Again. Why did she always get everything? Aila thought, this time, she'd finally found something that couldn't be taken away…

Glumly, Aila turned around, only to feel a spark of hope alight in her heart. Donald, Goofy, and Mickey were sitting against the wall of lockers! Wait, had they always been stuffed animals…? Yes, of course they had, what a silly thing to question.

Aila rushed up to them and knelt down, trying to more easily see eye to eye with her fabric friends. "Guys! Thank goodness you're here! Sora is acting super strange, Riku and Kairi too! Maybe Brina cast a spell on them? Do you think she secretly knows magic? Maybe she was a witch this whole time!"

Donald, Goofy, and Mickey didn't reply, their button eyes just staring lifelessly back at her.

Aila frowned. "Guys? What's wrong? Why won't you say anything?" She picked up Donald. "Are you mad at me? I… I'm sorry. I'm trying my best, I swear I am. I know I lost Celina, but I'm still helpful without her, right…?"

They still didn't reply.

Aila set Donald back on the ground and bowed her head. "Right… you'll take Sora's side, won't you? You've known him longer than you've known me…" She stood, the halls silent now. Everyone must have gone to class. Aila turned, her head still bowed. "I don't feel well. I'm going home."

She began to walk toward the school's entrance, her steps making no noise at all anymore. Everything felt grey and quiet. Too quiet. She shook her head, trying to get her ears to stop being clogged, but she still heard absolutely nothing. Why was it so quiet?! She began to make a run for the school's front doors, the light from the windows inlaid in them almost blinding her as she got closer and closer.

Suddenly, an adult was in her way. A woman. A teacher? Not one that she recognized. The woman's back was to her. Aila slowed to a stop, trying to explain to the woman that she needed to get by, that she felt sick and really wanted to go home, that she _needed_ to go home, because her parents were probably very worried and she had just remembered that she actually hadn't been home for quite some time, though she couldn't remember what had kept her away for so long. But somehow, no matter how many words she said, she couldn't even hear her own voice. Was she even speaking? Where had all the sound gone?!

Very slowly, the woman turned, her shoulder-length sandy hair swaying very gently as she moved, her soft teal waterfall skirt brushing her lower legs as she faced Aila fully. Aila's eyes widened as they locked with the woman's – or was she looking at her own eyes in a mirror…? Or… Celina…?

The woman opened her mouth.

"… _What a waste."_

KHKHKHKH

Aila opened her eyes to a knock on her door, her brain taking a few seconds to remember where she was as the faint sounds of the Gummi ship buzzed around her.

"Get up, Aila! Goofy's making breakfast!"

Aila groaned and sat up, blinking blearily at the door as Donald continued to pound on it. "Okay, okay, I'm up…" she called back, her voice thick with sleep. She cleared her throat, not sure she'd been loud enough for Donald to hear, but the knocking promptly stopped, so apparently she had been. Yawning, Aila swung her legs over the side of her bed and rubbed a bit of sleep from her eyes. Her heart felt weirdly heavy this morning. Had she had a bad dream? She frowned, trying to remember, but the details had already escaped her mind like water through a sieve. She thought maybe she'd dreamt she was back at school… Well, no wonder she was feeling annoyed, then. She checked her music player, noting that it had turned itself off once it had gone through her playlist. She needed to add more songs. Waking up to silence made her anxious nowadays.

She hurried into the bathroom and went through her morning routine as quickly as possible, grateful that Donald had scrounged them all up some new toothbrushes and stuff last night. She made her way to the kitchen just as Goofy was finishing what smelled like chocolate chip pancakes. Ooh, her favorite!

"Morning," she said as she sat down at the table, smiling at her friends.

Goofy glanced over his shoulder, beaming at her. "Mornin', Aila! Did ya sleep well?"

Aila put a hand in front of her mouth as she yawned. "More or less."

Donald crossed his arms, frowning. "You weren't up all night looking at that map, were you?"

Aila glanced his way. "No; you asked me not to, so I didn't look at it at all."

Donald looked positively shocked by that. "Wak! Really?!"

Aila pouted. "Don't act so surprised, I'm a very considerate person!"

Jiminy chuckled from atop the table. "That you are, Aila. But you do seem a bit tired."

Aila rubbed her eyes. "I think I had weird dreams, but I don't remember them. Something about school." She made a face. "What a boring thing to dream about."

Goofy set a plate in front of Aila, the steamy, delicious pancakes making her mouth immediately water. "Learnin' can be the opposite of boring sometimes, though!"

Aila smiled and shrugged. "Sure, learning can. But school, no way." She dug into her breakfast and sighed happily. "Your cooking is soooo much better than Yuffie's…"

Goofy laughed. "Well, we gotta have our energy up if we're gonna find the magic locket today!"

"Magic _pocket_ ," Donald corrected almost absentmindedly.

"Right! Pocket!"

Aila tapped a finger against the table as she chewed, swallowing thoughtfully. "I didn't come up with any other plan. Did you guys?"

Jiminy beamed at her as he picked up a crumb from his bottle cap plate. "Actually, yes!"

Donald passed a pitcher of milk Aila's way and she filled her glass as he elaborated. "We think we should go back to the witch's house."

Aila cocked her head. "Yeah?"

Goofy nodded, digging into his own breakfast now as well. "Yup! She seemed ta know what this was all about, so she must know where we're supposed ta go."

"Or at the very least she can explain the map more clearly," Jiminy added with a nod.

Donald sighed, glaring as he stabbed an entire pancake with his fork. "She shoved us out so fast that we didn't get to ask any questions. So let's go back and ask her now!"

Aila nodded, but then paused. "…I don't remember how to get to her house."

"Of course you don't," Donald replied with a roll of his eyes. "But I remember the general direction we went, and when we get close, it should show up on the map, right?"

"Ohh yeah! Okay, good plan, I like it."

Donald nodded. "Let's try and get this done quickly, okay?"

Aila frowned. "What's the rush?"

Goofy chuckled. "Donald wants ta get back before Sora's test is over."

"Oh, right. I forgot he wasn't just in the other room for a sec…" Aila took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. "How long does a test like that last anyway?"

"Who knows?" Jiminy said with a shrug. "He might already be done."

Donald waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, if he were done he probably would have called the ship to complain about us going on a mission without him."

Goofy and Jiminy chuckled. Aila grinned mischievously. "Let's try to do some extra exciting things on this world today to make him jealous!"

Donald smirked. "Alright, but technically he's going to a bunch of worlds without us, too."

"Oh yeah, no fair," Aila groaned. She smiled. "I hope he's somewhere fun! Though… I'm feeling weirdly annoyed at him today… Maybe he did something rude in my dream…"

"Dreams are just dreams," Goofy said with a smile. "Don't hold grudges over 'em!"

"I won't," Aila replied with a roll of her eyes. She thought for a second and then glared lightly at Donald and Goofy. "I feel like you guys did something annoying in my dream, too…"

"Good to know your subconscious thinks so highly of us," Donald replied cheekily.

Goofy, on the other hand, looked very guilty. "Gwarsh! I'm sorry, Aila! I'm sure we didn't mean it, uh, whatever it is we did. We'll try not to do it again!"

"We didn't do anything, Goofy! You _just said_ dreams are just dreams!"

"Oh, ahyuck! That's right."

Aila giggled. Once again, she realized just how much she had missed being on an adventure with these guys. And once again, she felt a twinge of sadness at the idea that it would be over so soon. Donald might be in a hurry to get back, but she was fine with this taking at least a _little_ bit longer.

The group made their way back into the forest, Aila checking the map every few minutes to make sure they were headed back toward the stone circle, despite Donald's insistence that he knew where he was going. Once they were there, Donald led them in the direction he claimed the witch's house was, only referring to the map a single time to double check.

"It's just over this hill," Donald said, his chest puffed out proudly as he marched up the slight incline they'd come to.

Aila nodded, recognizing this path now as well. "You're so good at not getting lost."

Goofy chuckled. "We had ta get trainin' on directionary things when we were Musketeers."

Aila's eyes went wide, excitement immediately flooding her system. "You guys were really Musketeers?! Oh my gosh, that's right, Disney Castle totally has the same design as it did in The Three Musketeers! Ahh! You fought the Beagle Boys!"

Donald glanced back at her, half amused, half annoyed. "You know really random things about us."

Aila was almost bouncing as she walked. She _loved_ that movie! It was her favorite one that starred Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. Knowing it was real was insanely cool. "Does the castle still have Musketeers?! I never thought to check when I was there, I just assumed all the guards were regular guards! Do you think I could be one?!"

Goofy seemed amused by how happy Aila was getting, a hand covering his mouth as he tried to keep from laughing. "Maybe once you're older, if ya want to."

Aila's eyes were practically glittering with excitement. "Soooo coooool!"

A gasp from Donald drew Aila's attention back to him, her feathery friend having stopped once he'd reached the top of the small hill they were climbing. She and Goofy exchanged a quick puzzled glance and then hurried to their friend's side, only for both of them to gasp as well.

They'd found the witch's house all right, but it was _completely_ demolished, almost as if it had exploded.

"Gwarsh," Goofy breathed.

"What happened?!" Donald asked, putting his hands on his head, exasperated.

Aila rushed down toward the house, coming to a stop just in front of the rubble. She hesitated. Should they search for the witch in all this? She was magic, so she probably made it out, right? Was she okay? How had her house exploded?! Maybe she had tried to carve a bear that was too ambitious or… something?

Donald sighed heavily and Aila turned back toward him. "What do we do now?" he grumbled, looking very peeved about this turn of events.

Goofy scanned the rubble and frowned, furrowing his brow as he thought. Seemed he also didn't think they'd find the witch in any of that mess. "I guess we should just, uh… try the map again?"

"We've been checking the map!" Donald retorted, his feathers puffing out a little as he started to get angry. "It's just as useless as it was before!"

Aila checked the map again just in case, but Donald was right. It showed them where they were, but not where they needed to go. She rolled it up and sighed. "I guess we're stuck with Plan B: wander around aimlessly and hope we find something."

Donald stomped a foot on the ground and crossed his arms in a huff. "Aw, phooey!"

A magical sigh echoed to Aila's right and the entire gang startled, everyone's heads whipping in the direction of the sound. Aila's eyes widened as they landed on a little blue flame thingy, floating a few feet away. "A wispy willow…! Or, wait, what were they called?"

Donald rushed toward the wisp eagerly. "Hey! Lead us somewhere!"

"If ya don't mind," Goofy added, holding up a finger and smiling politely at the wisp.

The wisp vanished with another sigh. "Ah!" Aila yelped as it blinked back into existence directly in front of her, causing her to stumble back a couple of steps in surprise. The wisp came closer again, level with Aila's hands, it's makeshift eyes trained on the paper she held. Aila held up the map, unsure. "Uh… this is a map a crazy lady gave me… do you wanna see…?"

The wisp looked her in the eye and then blinked out of existence again. Aila was about to call out for it to come back when it appeared with another sigh just in front of the tree line, a trail of dozens more wisps appearing behind it and extending deep into the trees.

"Oh boy!" Donald cheered, hurrying to follow the trail immediately, Aila and Goofy having to scramble to keep up with him.

They hurried through the trees, the wisps leading them in a wavy path to who knew where. Aila started to see glimpses of a river running parallel to them on her right, the sound of running water meshing with the chirps of birds and the sighs of the wisps and the gang's quick footsteps.

And then, as quickly as the wisps had appeared, they were gone, the final one in the trail blinking out of existence as the gang skidded to a stop.

Aila looked around. This area seemed no different than anywhere else they'd been. "Uh…"

Goofy frowned. "Maybe check the map?"

Aila was about to do just that when a nearby sound caught everyone's attention. It sounded a little like… "Merida?" Aila questioned aloud. She couldn't make out any words, but it definitely sounded like Merida was calling out to someone nearby.

"She's still out in the woods?" Donald asked, quirking a brow.

"Gwarsh, maybe she got lost last night," Goofy fretted.

Aila immediately closed the map without activating it, eager to be with the protagonist of whatever story they were in again. "Let's go talk to her!"

"Wait, check the map first!" Donald called, but Aila had already started hurrying through the trees in search of Merida.

It didn't take long to spot her, her vibrant red hair easily standing out against the greenery. Aila was about to call out a greeting when she took in the situation, her eyes widening as panic shot through her veins. A massive brown bear was maybe a foot away from Merida, forcing the girl to stumble backwards as it stalked toward her, its teeth bared and a dangerous growl rumbling from its chest. Merida stopped and tentatively reached out, saying something too quiet for Aila to hear.

The bear lifted an arm, claws extended, and lunged.

Aila bolted forward, Light on her heels as she closed the gap between herself and Merida in a single heartbeat. "Stay back!" she called, grabbing Merida by the arm and pulling her away from the bear, her staff materializing in her other hand as she prepared to block the animal's strike. A strike that, strangely, didn't come as fast as she thought it would.

"No, wait!" Merida cried, stepping in front of Aila and facing her, arms out, like she was shielding the bear from an attack. Uh, shouldn't that be the other way around?! "Please, don't!" she implored, her eyes locking desperately with Aila's. Merida glanced over her shoulder at the bear, who Aila realized was now examining its raised paw like it was confused as to how it had ended up in that position. "Uh… Mum…?"

The bear's eyes widened, its ears falling flat against its head as it stood up onto its hind legs, looking… guilty? Ashamed? Afraid? Donald and Goofy rushed to Aila's side, both of them with their weapons out as well, though they too seemed unsure about the situation.

"Wait… your mom is a bear?" Aila asked, completely baffled.

Merida glanced at her, looking guilty as well. "No. No, she's not." She turned to the bear, seeming nervous, addressing it now. "Mum… You… changed, just now. Like you were a… I mean… like you were a bear… on the inside…"

The bear looked even more scared and confused now, its eyes wide and its breathing shallow and fast.

Realization hit Aila like a truck. She groaned, putting a hand to her head. "That crazy witch lady turned your mom into a bear, didn't she."

Merida turned to her, looking shocked. "Yeah! How'd you know…?"

Aila leveled her with a deadpan stare. "Seriously? Because the _only magic_ she did was bear related! She really _can_ only turn things into bears!"

The bear suddenly looked annoyed, glaring hard at Merida. Merida winced. "Ah… well how was I supposed ta know that!"

"Oh brother," Donald sighed, dismissing his weapon, Aila and Goofy doing the same. "No good ever comes from making deals with wit—"

Donald was cut off by Merida's gasp, the gang recoiling in shock as Merida practically lunged at them with unbridled excitement. "Your weapons! You just did magic!"

Aila sweatdropped. "Oh…"

"Well…" Goofy began.

"Not _really_ ," Donald tried, all of them knowing where this was going, but Merida didn't give them a chance to say anything else.

"You three can fix this, can't you?!" she gushed, gesturing wildly to her mom. "Please, _please_! We tried ta go back t'the witch, but she was out o' town an' then the house exploded an'—"

"Oh, so _you_ exploded the house," Donald grumbled, glaring a little at the curly haired girl.

He squawked as Merida grabbed him around the shoulders, her voice cracking with desperation. "You _have_ to reverse the spell! By the second sunrise, it'll be permanent! _Please_!"

Aila frowned and shared a glance with Goofy. "Uh… I don't know how to reverse spells… do you?"

Goofy shook his head. "No…"

Aila tapped Donald on the head. "You're the court magician, do your stuff, help her out!"

Donald pulled away from Merida and swatted Aila's hand away. "I can't just lift someone else's spell so easily!" He turned back to Merida, his expression morphing into a sympathetic one. "I'm sorry… but this seems more like a curse than a spell, and I can't undo something like that. Is there another way to break it…?"

Merida's expression darkened and she turned away, her shoulders hunched in frustration. She was silent for a few moments before finally breathing out, "Fate be changed. Look inside. Mend the bond torn by pride." She looked back at the group, her eyes watery. "That's what the message that stupid witch left said. But I don't know what that means…"

The bear shuffled over to Merida and put a paw very gently on the girl's shoulder, seemingly trying to comfort her, but the bear's expression also looked rather hopeless. Yikes, what a situation… though, admittedly, not one that Aila had been expecting. Like, at all. She had kinda been anticipating… a villain to thwart or something? Not a riddle about breaking a bear curse.

Merida took another breath and stood up taller, shouldering a bow (that Aila just now realized she had) with a small sniffle. She looked at the group again. "Where'd you all go last night anyway?"

Aila frowned. "Us? We tried to follow you, but the witch wouldn't let us leave until she gave us something too. And then when we finally got back outside you were gone."

Merida quirked a brow. "She gave you somethin'? What?"

"A useless piece of garbage," Donald grumbled, crossing his arms with a huff.

Aila frowned, unfurling the map. "It can't be useless, we just don't know how it's useful yet."

Merida and the bear came a little closer, curious as to what Aila was holding. Aila called a bit of her power forth, which seemed to startle the two, but as soon as the map started coming into view they just leaned in closer, intrigued.

"A map?" Merida asked, cocking her head curiously. She held a hand out. "Let me see it."

"It only shows up if I'm holding it," Aila said, a little proudly. And maybe a bit defensively. Hey, protagonist or not, Merida was still a stranger to her, so she wasn't eager to go handing the map over. Besides, it was implied to be Celina's, wasn't it? So Aila needed to keep it in her possession.

Merida reached out anyway, grabbing the top of the map and pulling a bit. "C'mon, jus' lemme take a look."

A twinge of annoyance sparked within Aila; Merida was kind of rude. Aila held firm, but was very aware of how delicate the parchment felt. "Careful, you'll tear it!"

Merida glared. "I'm just tryin' ta—" A faint green glow suddenly burst from the map, startling both girls. They both let go, the parchment falling to the floor, the lines of the map fading as soon as Aila's power was withdrawn.

"Gwarsh, what was that?" Goofy asked.

Merida snatched the map up off the ground before Aila could, holding it taut with both hands. It began to glow lightly green again before fading back to normal, some words in green ink etching into existence at the top. Merida squinted, reading aloud, "'With my royal blessing, may your path be true.'" She frowned, clearly confused. "Wha?"

Donald practically jumped into the air in his excitement. "A path?! Yes! Where does it lead?"

Merida continued to frown. "Nowhere, it's just those words. There's no map here."

Aila crossed her arms and glared, hard, feeling more than a little bit irked now. "I _told you_ , the map only shows up if _I'm_ touching it."

Merida eyed her curiously. "Wha's so special about you?"

Aila's glare deepened. "What's so special about _you_?"

Merida jabbed at the words on the page. " _Clearly_ the fact that I'm a _royal_ is important, eh?"

" _You're_ a royal?" Aila asked. She took in Merida's torn and waterlogged dress, her unkempt hair, the dirt beneath her nails and muddy smudges along her cheeks. "I never would've guessed."

Merida smirked. "I'll take that as a compliment." The bear growled lightly at Merida, seeming very annoyed by that comment. Merida ignored her mom, still glaring at Aila as she continued haughtily, "An' so what, you think all princesses have to act a certain way too, do you? Ugh, everyone in the entire world is the same."

Aila huffed, her nails digging into her own elbows. No, she didn't think princesses all had to be the same, but she at least would expect them to have _some_ semblance of manners, right?! This girl stole her map! After almost ripping it! She held out a hand. "Just give it back."

Merida clutched the map protectively. "No, I'm still looking."

Aila gritted her teeth. "It isn't yours! Give it back or I'll take it from you!"

Merida scoffed. "I'd like ta see you try." Aila felt her eye twitch. She could one thousand percent take the map back from this girl by force.

The bear straightened up to its full height, holding up its hands in a placating manner as it seemed to try and speak to the two girls. Unfortunately, no one spoke bear, so it just sounded like a bunch of strange bear noises.

"Uh, I think she's tryin' to say, let's all calm down," Goofy translated, holding his hands up as well and smiling at both Aila and Merida. "It looks like the map reacts to both of you, so maybe you should try workin' together!"

Aila shifted her glare to Goofy. "Goofy! She stole my map! Why aren't you more on my side here?!"

"It's not _your_ map, you're only borrowing it," Donald pointed out. Annoyance needled deeper into Aila's stomach. Neither of her friends were really backing her up!

"I was only tryin' ta look at it!" Merida shot back, extremely defensively. The bear fixed Merida with a look that, if any of them had any doubts, solidified the proof that this was in fact Merida's mother, the intention of 'young lady, this is not how I raised you to act' very clear despite the lack of any speaking capabilities. Merida looked away, a little sheepish but still clearly annoyed, before mumbling, "…I guess I coulda asked first…" The bear nodded.

Aila huffed out a sigh and rolled her neck, trying to relieve the tension there. She felt like she wanted to be petty – the map was given to _her_ , it needed her powers to work, but now out of nowhere this supposed princess snatches it up and activates something on it too? Merida didn't even have to use any powers to make those words appear, she was just born royal and that was enough. That seemed unfair. Something tugged in the back of Aila's mind, a needling fear that she had nothing to offer to the group, a fear that she honestly hadn't felt in a while. 'What if they decide they don't need me…?' She shook her head, trying to get rid of such ridiculous thoughts. Donald and Goofy wouldn't ditch her for something like that, and they weren't _not_ on her side, they were just trying to defuse the situation, like grown ups. It was fine. She could share the map.

She ran her fingers through her bangs before finally looking at Merida again. "Let's work together, like Goofy said. And like, um… your mom… said…"

The bear lifted its chin importantly and made a few indistinguishable bear sounds, its paw over its chest like it was giving a very important introduction.

"Queen Elinor," Merida translated, gesturing lightly toward her mom. The bear smiled and dipped her head a little, saying a few more words no one could understand. Merida paused. "Um… I think she says it's nice to meet you all." Queen Elinor smiled again.

Goofy bowed. "Your majesty, it's an honor." Aila and Donald quickly followed his lead and bowed as well, as Goofy continued introducing them all, "I'm Goofy, this here's Aila, and that's Donald."

Elinor replied in what sounded like kind-hearted bear-speak before glancing at Merida and tilting her head toward the gang, indicating that she expected Merida to do something. Merida seemed confused. "What?" Elinor tilted her head toward the gang again. "Mum, I already met them last night." Elinor glared. Merida sighed. "Fine, yeah, okay." She fell into an exaggerated curtsey. "And I am _Princess_ Merida, _so honored_ to meet you all as well. _Welcome_ to our kingdom." The sarcasm was thick in her words, though Aila got the feeling it was aimed more at the act of having to do something regal-like rather than at them. She was starting to get the impression that Merida did _not_ enjoy being a princess, for some reason.

Merida looked at her mom. "Happy now?" Elinor did not, in fact, look happy now. If anything she looked even more annoyed. She pointed sharply to the map in Merida's hands and then pointed to Aila, once again tilting her head in the gang's direction. Merida blinked. "…Oh. Did ya just want me to give the map back?" Elinor nodded curtly. Merida grinned, looking up at the sky. "Ohhh, I see. I figured ya wanted me ta act more like a princess around company. Didn't want ta embarrass you." Aila had never seen a bear give a full on deadpanned, completely unamused expression until right that second.

"I'm starting to get how this whole curse thing might have happened," Donald mumbled under his breath to Aila and Goofy. They both nodded. Merida and her mother clearly didn't see eye to eye about probably a lot of stuff.

Merida finally walked up to Aila and held out the map. "Here. Sorry for takin' it… I got excited is all, but… sorry."

Aila took the map back, very carefully, and nodded. "…Thanks."

Unfortunately, as soon as Merida wasn't touching the map anymore, the words faded from the top, and it went back to being blank. Aila frowned, summoning some of her power and bringing the map back, but there was still no path on it, just like before. "Ah," she sighed, looking up at Merida. "…Can you try touching it again too? Don't take it, just… let's both hold it."

Merida frowned, suddenly seeming a little antsy, but touched the map again anyway. It glowed faintly green, the words appeared, and then, finally, a trail of green dots appeared on the map.

A path.

"It worked!" Aila exclaimed.

"Oh boy!" Goofy cheered.

"Thank goodness," Donald sighed. "Now we can get a move on."

Aila looked up at Merida, all negative feelings toward the girl gone in favor of her own excitement over cracking this dumb map riddle. "Come on, it's this way! If we keep holding the map together, then we can find our way to—"

"Are you kidding me?" Merida asked, abruptly releasing the map and causing the path to disappear. She gestured to her mom. "I'm in the middle of a crisis! I don't have time for some… some treasure hunt!"

Aila let her power fade and crossed her arms, annoyed once again. "You think those wisp thingies lead people to where they're meant to be, right? Well we keep following them to you. We're on a very important mission, and it seems like we need you to help us."

"What mission?" Merida scoffed.

Aila opened her mouth only to cringe as an elbow stabbed into her ribs. She glared down at Donald. "Ow!"

" _Secret_ mission," Donald hissed.

Aila gestured exasperatedly. "But we clearly can't _do_ the mission without Merida!"

"It's still a secret!"

"I'm not helping with somethin' you can't even tell me about," Merida replied with a roll of her eyes. She glared at all three of them. "The only other person I've known to do magic cursed me mum."

"Because you made a poorly phrased deal with her," Aila muttered.

Merida's glare only deepened. "You all could be evil for all I know."

"Gwarsh, we could be?!" Goofy asked, seeming very worried by that.

Donald ran a hand down his face. "Goofy, we aren't evil."

Merida turned and began walking toward her mom. "I've got ta figure out how ta lift this curse. After that's done, if yer still here, maybe I'll help with yer little 'mission'."

Aila took a step as if to follow her. "Fine, how about we help you and then—"

"No thanks," Merida said, marching into the woods. "We don' need yer help. If ya can't lift the curse with yer magic, then we'll do it ourselves. C'mon, mum."

Elinor looked torn, but then followed her daughter into the woods, turning and dipping her head one more time as if in apology to the gang before disappearing within the trees.

Aila was once again annoyed, glaring after the princess. That interaction had gone poorly. "Is our problem that we don't have Sora here? Is he the one who usually sweet talks people into immediately being our friends?"

"Yep," Donald replied with a sigh. "You're not very good at that."

Aila puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "Well you're not any better!"

"Well uh, what should we do now?" Goofy asked.

Aila suddenly had an idea. She put one hand near her mouth and called out to no direction in particular, "Hey, wispy things! You there?"

There was a high-pitched sigh, and then a wisp appeared in front of Aila. She was a little surprised that it came so easily when she called it, but whatever, no time to wonder about that. She held up the map. "You know what this is, right? This will help us heal your world. You want us to use it, don't you?" The wisp sighed in reply, looking from the map to Aila. "Well we can't do that if Merida wanders off. She seems to put a lot of faith in you, so… wanna help us out here?"

The wisp looked at her for another second before blinking out of existence with another sigh.

"Where'd it go?" Donald asked, clearly not following what Aila was trying to do.

"Hopefully to wherever Merida is," Aila said with a shrug. She settled onto a nearby log and lied back, looking up at the partly cloudy sky between the trees. "Let's just give it a few minutes."

They did just that, making idle conversation as they waited to see if the wisp would do what Aila had asked. It didn't take long – no more than five minutes had passed before Merida and Elinor came stumbling through the trees again, a wisp blinking out with a sigh as they reached the end of the path it had led them down. Merida's jaw dropped when she saw the group, the girl seeming confused that the wisps had led her back to them.

Aila grinned. "Hey there! Did you break the curse?"

Merida's expression soured. "Does it _look like_ I broke the curse?"

"Hiya yer majesty!" Goofy greeted the still-very-much-a-bear Queen Elinor. She waved back politely.

Aila, who was still lying back on the log, held the rolled up map above her head with one hand, twirling it idly between her fingers. "Gee, it's so crazy that we keep running into each other, right? Almost like fate or something. Maybe whatever we're supposed to do together is super important, I dunno."

Merida sighed loudly. " _Fine_. Show me the stupid map."

Aila grinned and sprung off the log, hurrying over to Merida and opening the map again. "We'll be fast, I promise. Then we'll help with the whole bear situation."

"I told you, we don't need yer help," Merida grumbled.

Aila shrugged. "Okay, fine, one sided favor, less work for us." Merida sighed again but, at Aila's prompting, touched the map. Aila called her powers and finally, once again, the map was complete, with a path leading to the right through the trees. "Let's go!" Aila cheered, practically pushing Merida into the trees so they could all follow the path. It took about a minute of grumbling before Merida seemed to decide to just go along with the situation, Donald, Goofy, and Elinor all following close behind the two girls.

"So, uh, while we're walkin', what was it you said the witch told ya about the curse again?" Goofy asked. Aila kept her eyes glued to the map, making sure they didn't stray from the path it was giving them. The angle of the path changed with the direction they were facing, so as long as it was leading straight ahead at the top, they were on track. Easy.

Merida glanced back at him. "Fate be changed. Look inside. Mend the bond torn by pride."

"Ugh, I hate riddles," Donald sighed.

"That's such a vague riddle that it could mean a hundred different things," Aila muttered. "That witch seems kinda irresponsible."

"Kind of?" Merida repeated incredulously.

Aila almost replied with, 'Well at least she wasn't so irresponsible that she turned her own mom into a bear,' but decided to hold her tongue.

Elinor grumbled, seeming increasingly frustrated any time the witch was mentioned. Aila didn't blame her. Why _had_ Merida turned her into a bear, anyway? Obviously this wasn't the intended outcome, but based on what Merida had said last night, she _had_ meant to change her mom in _some_ way. That wasn't very nice. If she were Elinor she'd be pretty mad about that, too.

Aila decided to ask Merida this, because it was suddenly getting too quiet again anyway and that was not ideal. "Sooo why'd you ask the witch for a spell, anyway?"

Merida shot her an incredulous look. "Not sure why tha's yer business."

Gee, touchy. Aila pressed on. "Is it because you don't like being a princess? I feel like this didn't really fix that. Maybe if the queen is a bear then you're just the daughter of a bear instead of a royal? Was that the thought process?"

Merida's expression soured even more. "How about we just walk quietly."

"No thanks," Aila replied. Merida seemed irked by that response, but Aila ignored her and just continued, "Why wouldn't you like being a princess? It seems cool to me! You probably live in a big castle, right?"

"Yeah…" Merida replied, clearly frustrated.

"And do you have like servants and cooks and stuff too?"

"I guess…"

"And you can probably get anything you want, no matter how much money it is! I bet people just give you really awesome gifts all the time. Royals are so lucky!"

"I don't care about any o' that stuff," Merida huffed. "None o' that is worth all the stupid rules I have to live by."

Aila quirked a brow. Rules? Really? Was that the only problem? "What rules could be so bad?"

"I'm not allowed to be… _me_ ," Merida lamented, kicking at a pebble in their path with frustration. "I've got to be proper and polite, can't raise my voice, can't go huntin', can't go out an' see the world…! It's ridiculous. But the _worst_ of it all is this dumb marriage."

Oh, okay, here we go. "Marriage?" Aila asked, locking on to that. "Who're you marrying?"

Merida made a disgusted face. "Whoever wins the games. An' all the candidates are terrible." Elinor growled and attempted to say something that sounded very much like chastising, but in bear talk. Merida glanced back at her and scoffed. "Oh please, mum, you canna actually tell me you think any o' them aren't just the worst."

"Well uh, if you don't like any of them, why're gonna marry one of 'em?" Goofy asked.

Merida frowned. "Because they're each the sons of the neighborin' kingdoms, an' our marriage will continue peace or somethin'. Like I'm some sort o' bargaining chip rather than a person." She ran her free hand down her face. "I jus' _had_ to be born a girl…"

Realization lit within Aila. _Oh_. Merida really _was_ trapped because she was a princess. She was basically being sold to the highest bidder in the name of political peace. Whoa, that actually really sucked. But Elinor seemed very nice. Sure, she was in bear form and couldn't speak, so maybe it was hard to really gauge her character, but… Why would she make her daughter do something she clearly wasn't on board with? Aila glanced back at Elinor. The bear was looking at Merida with confusion and hurt, like she didn't understand Merida's view of this whole thing at all. Elinor tried to say something, but stopped when it only came out as another bear sound. She looked away, brow furrowed in light frustration. Aila wondered what her side of this whole story was.

They walked for a long time, the lush trees and grasses of the forest seeming to vanish as they followed the path the map had set for them and a thick, dewy fog rolling in and cutting off a good amount of their visibility.

"Gwarsh, this is kinda spooky," Goofy commented, glancing around nervously as they continued to move forward.

"Now _this_ seems more like somewhere in trouble," Donald muttered.

"Yeah," Aila breathed, a chill running up her spine as she ducked under the branch of a very dead-looking tree.

"Is tha' a good thing?" Merida asked, her voice a little quieter than usual. It seemed she too was feeling apprehensive.

Aila glanced her way. "Well, no… but we're here to fix things. So we were trying to figure out where needed fixing."

"Ah…" Merida replied, seeming to only vaguely follow that, but she didn't ask any follow up questions.

They came upon what seemed like the ruins of an old stone arch, and Merida gasped. "Mum… look…"

The arch had a symbol at the top of it, Aila's eyes widening slightly as recognition lit within her. It was a circle holding two axes crossed over one another, like a coat of arms. The exact same symbol that had been on the coin in the witch's possession, the one that had been given to her by a prince in exchange for a spell. Aila glanced back at Donald and Goofy, who seemed to have spotted the coat of arms as well. They nodded seriously at her, confirming that they recognized it too. Aila frowned, facing forward again as they all walked through the arch and surveying the broken, blackened remains of what she could only assume was, at one point in time, a town. Homes. All burned and demolished long ago.

"Come on, a little further," Merida urged, looking at the map. Aila looked down and realized that they were very close to the final dot on the path – this must be the right area. She and Merida led the group through the ruins, up a slope that seemed to be heading toward the top of a cliffside.

"Hmmm," Goofy hummed, sounding unsure.

"What?" Donald asked.

"Well, uh, I thought we'd wanna go down to find the place, but we're goin' up…"

"Oh brother. Just let that go, will you?!"

Aila and Merida continued up some broken stairs toward what Aila could only assume had been a castle at the very edge of the cliffside, its roof and the majority of its walls having crumbled in some forgotten disaster.

"Who do you think lived here?" Aila whispered, feeling _very_ uneasy now.

Merida seemed slightly awestruck as she and Aila continued onto the threshold of the former castle. "Whoever they were they've been gone for a long, long time."

No sooner had Merida said that did Aila feel a shift in the ground beneath her feet. Her mind only had half a second to process _Danger!_ before the floor gave way, sending her and Merida tumbling, screaming, down into somewhere new. Aila rolled to a stop and coughed, dust and debris having infiltrated her lungs in the fall.

"Aila!" Donald and Goofy called, followed by a very concerned bear noise.

"We're all right!" Merida called back from somewhere to Aila's left. Aila pushed herself to her knees and blinked, a hand suddenly before her. Merida smiled tightly down at her. "We're all right, yeah?"

Aila let out a shaky breath and accepted Merida's hand, allowing the older girl to pull her to her feet. "Yeah. Thanks." Her eyes widened and she turned back to where she fell, searching wildly amongst the debris. "The map! Where…?"

"Here," Merida said, and Aila turned to see her picking it up off the floor. Merida looked it over and then held the map out to Aila. "It's not torn or anythin', don't worry. Pretty sure we were at the end of the path anyway."

Aila took the map back gratefully. Merida was right, the path had basically looked over right before they'd fallen. So then… was this the place? She pocketed the map carefully, trying to figure out where they'd fallen into.

"What do you see?" Donald called. Aila looked up to see him, Goofy, and Elinor peering down at them through the hole she and Merida had fallen through.

"Um…" Aila looked around, the light from the hole enough to allow her to see at least a bit of the room without any help from her powers, so she held off on using them for a moment. What appeared to be a good amount of human bones littered the broken floor, and Aila's discomfort immediately rose. "Well, I see nothing good…"

"It's a… a throne room," Merida elaborated to the group, already exploring the room more thoroughly. It did, indeed, look like the ruins of an old, stone throne room. "Mum, you suppose this coulda been the kingdom in that story you were tellin' me? The one with the princes?"

"What story?" Aila asked, hurrying over to Merida.

Merida glanced at her. "There was once a kingdom ruled by a king, who divided the kingdom amongst his four sons. The oldest son wanted to rule the entire thing himself, an' so the kingdom fell to war and ruin… or somethin' like that."

"Aila! You fell _down_ somewhere, that's a good sign!" Goofy called. "Try touchin' somethin'!" Aila heard Donald sigh, but the duck didn't outright disagree with Goofy's suggestion.

"Kay!" she called back. Merida was looking at a broken stone slab now. The slab had once been carved with the image of four men, but the one on the far right seemed to have been broken off from the rest, and badly damaged. Aila tried touching the slab. Nothing happened.

"Four," Merida breathed, examining the slab more closely. She seemed particularly interested in the piece that had broken off, the piece with the damaged carving of one of the men. "The oldest…" She reached out, touching where the slab had been broken. "Split, like the tapestry…!"

Tapestry? Aila had no idea what she was talking about, but it was apparently something very upsetting, as Merida suddenly gasped and backed away in horror.

"The spell," Merida breathed shakily. "It's happened before…"

Aila's eyes widened as both she and Merida took a better look at the walls around them. They weren't just damaged by time or weapons – claw marks were etched deep into the stone, like a fierce beast had broken loose in this place.

Like a _bear_ had broken loose here.

"Strength of ten men," Merida mumbled as she looked over to a pile of skeletons: former soldiers, still holding shields and weapons, some of their skulls crushed by a blow from something much stronger than any one of them.

"She really _can_ only turn things into bears," Aila breathed, knowing now that the previous spell the witch had mentioned giving that prince had been the same one she'd given to Merida – it had changed the prince into a bear. Not a very nice bear, by the looks of things.

"Oh no," Merida breathed. "The prince became…"

A rumble sounded from the shadows behind Merida and Aila, both girls turning with a start as they realized they weren't alone. A gigantic, black, scarred beast of a bear lumbered out of the darkness and stood up to its full height, one eye yellow and filled with unbridled rage, the other eye blood red and lifeless, probably the result of some failed attempt to defeat the beast long ago.

"Mor'du," Merida said, her eyes widening in horror.

Elinor roared at the same time that Donald shouted, "Aila, get out of there!"

Mor'du let out a deafening roar and lunged at the girls, Aila summoning her weapon as Merida fired an arrow. The arrow pierced Mor'du deeply in his right shoulder but he didn't even seem to notice, lunging forward with terrifying speed and strength. Merida screamed and stumbled back just as Aila dropped to a knee and placed her free hand flat on the floor, summoning a shield of Light. Mor'du slammed headfirst into the shield with so much power that Aila was thrown back, the impact radiating deep within her own bones. She slammed into the broken remains of a stairway and hissed in pain, blinking away stars as she quickly pushed herself back up.

Merida shot another arrow but it broke on Mor'du's skull, not even piercing his flesh as he barreled toward the princess. She gasped and leapt out of the way, Mor'du crashing into the pillars she had been standing in front of. The pillars crumbled easily beneath his body, like they'd been made of papier-mâché rather than stone. Merida tumbled against some rubble and Aila rushed to defend her, Mor'du hardly having been slowed down at all. Aila summoned a few small orbs of Light and sent them flying at Mor'du's face, willing them to explode on impact. Mor'du roared, seeming more irritated than hurt, though his vision seemed perhaps temporarily compromised as he batted angrily at his eyes.

"Go, get back outside!" Aila commanded Merida.

"What about you?!" Merida gasped.

"I'm right behind you, just go!"

Merida scrambled to her feet and began climbing up a pile of rubble that would get her closer to where the girls had fallen from, Mor'du blinking hard as he seemed to regain his sense of sight. He zeroed in on Aila and roared. Aila squared her shoulders. Good, he was focused on her, not Merida. Mor'du charged at her and she used her Light to help her dodge, her quick movements obviously frustrating for the beast as swipe after swipe just barely missed her. But Mor'du was no slouch in the speed department either, his massive paws grabbing at a stone half the size of Aila and hurling it at her so quickly that Aila barely had time to leap out of the way. She blinked and Mor'du was on her, his massive claws glinting as they rocketed down toward her face, Aila just managing to get her staff up in time to block. But his strength was too much, and she was immediately forced to her knees.

"Aila!" Merida called, fear lacing her voice.

"Just get out of here!" Aila called back, trying and failing to keep the strain out of her words, her arms feeling like they were about to break. Mor'du flinched and roared, letting up on Aila as he turned to face the rest of the group. Donald was clutching the edges of the hole, his staff aimed at Mor'du, remnants of ice magic sparking along its top. Merida was just barely too far away from the hole to climb out, Elinor's paw stretched desperately toward her daughter. Mor'du shifted focus, barreling toward Merida again, the redhead paling as she tried to reach her mother's paw, but to no avail.

Goofy stretched an arm out toward Merida as well. "Jump!" he insisted.

Merida jumped just as Mor'du swiped at her, his paw just barely missing her. She grabbed her mother's paw and Goofy's hand, the two pulling her out of the hole just as Mor'du tried to make another swipe. Aila ran toward the bear and leapt with all her strength, stabbing the pointed end of her staff deep into his back just as Mor'du burst up and out of the hole, Aila holding on for dear life as the bear broke through the rubble. Everyone screamed, Merida, Goofy, and Donald scrambling back. Aila heard another, less vicious bear sound and blinked through the dust to see Elinor standing behind the remains of a nearby wall, her paws on it like she was ready to push it over. Aila got the message and quickly leapt off of Mor'du's back right as he tried to swipe her off, leaving her staff embedded within his flesh as Elinor pushed the wall over, the stone rubble falling directly onto Mor'du. Mor'du roared, temporarily slowed as he was partially buried, but very clearly still ready to fight.

"Go, go!" Donald urged, pushing Merida toward her mother. "You two get out of here! We'll handle this!"

"I can fight—!" Merida began, but her mother was not having any discussion, scooping Merida up and placing her on her back before booking it back down the hill. They vanished into the fog and Aila breathed a sigh of relief. Merida seemed good with that bow, but she didn't seem to have really been in a fight before. It was safer for her and Elinor to be somewhere else.

Aila regrouped with Donald and Goofy, summoning her staff back to herself as her friends fell into battle stances, weapons out. Mor'du freed himself from the rubble and roared, so fiercely that Aila actually felt the sound trying to knock her over. Darkness pooled on the ground around Mor'du, shapes rising up at his side, their beady yellow eyes making Aila's grip on her staff tighten. Neoshadow Heartless.

"Guess we figured out where the trouble is," Aila breathed, counting their enemies. Six, including Mor'du. Ugh, she hated Neoshadows even when there was only one or two of them… Somehow, despite their lack of magic, they were _so_ much stronger and faster than most of the Heartless they fought. This was going to suck.

"Then let's do our job!" Donald said, raising his staff high in the air. "Ready?!"

"Ready!" Aila and Goofy replied, Aila digging her heels into the blackened earth.

Mor'du charged and Goofy leapt in to meet him with his shield, somehow able to plant himself firmly enough to stop Mor'du's forward momentum, at least for a few seconds. Aila took the opportunity and used her Light for a speed boost, zipping around Mor'du and landing a few quick slashes on his exposed side. Mor'du roared angrily and pulled back before swiping at her, his strike close enough for Aila to feel some disturbed air pull past her face as she leapt away, but she managed to avoid any damage.

Unfortunately she didn't get much breathing room, two Neoshadows pouncing at her from her right as soon as she'd made her retreat, forcing her to leap away yet again. She raised a shaky shield as she did her best not to stumble over the uneven terrain, but it was hard to remain steady amongst so many loose stones and dilapidated pathways. The faster of the two Neoshadows swiped a razor sharp claw across her shield, Aila wincing slightly as she felt the attack dully in her bones. The second Neoshadow sank into the floor, bypassing her shield and forcing her to use her staff to block its attempted strike instead, her arm shaking lightly as she tried to match the Heartless's strength. Ah, somehow fighting with her powers was more difficult now than it had been when Celina was here…

Aila gasped as something sharp sliced across her other arm, forcing her to stumble back yet again while still trying to parry the second Neoshadow's attacks, her shield fading as her concentration broke. A third Neoshadow was apparently the culprit, a bit of Aila's blood dripping from its sharp fingers as a result of its landed blow, which Aila really did not appreciate. With her shield gone the first Neoshadow was approaching fast again, and in a moment of panic Aila pulled both her arms in close and focused on the need to get all the Heartless _away_!

White Light exploded from her, disintegrating all three Neoshadows on contact, their high pitched screeches piercing Aila's ears. Unfortunately, this was a move that Aila hadn't quite mastered yet, and therefore wasn't braced properly for the massive kickback it resulted in. Aila's body was thrown backwards, her vision temporarily flickering as a result of using too much power all at once, her reaction time almost nonexistent for a few seconds.

By the time her mind started moving again and she had blinked the stars away, she realized with a sharp spike of panic that she had been blown over the edge of the cliffside, gravity just starting to take hold and pull her down toward the ocean below. Instinctively she thrust out a hand and summoned a long rope of Light, sending it without much of a plan at all toward the cliffside, hoping it might miraculously wrap itself around a piece of rubble that would be strong enough to hold her, though that seemed unlikely.

Thankfully her miracle did come in the form of her friends, both Donald and Goofy lunging for the end of the Light rope and gripping it tight, digging their heels in to the stone of the cliff. "Hang on, Aila!" Goofy shouted, and Aila did just that, grabbing at her end of her makeshift rope with both hands as gravity really started to pull her down. The rope went taut and Aila found herself hurtling toward the cliffside, her mind panicking once again as she realized the speed at which she was going to collide with the stone surface. She loosened her hold on the rope and summoned even more Light to it, letting gravity claim her once again as the length of her rope lengthened and she was able to swing into the wall at a gentler angle, though her legs still shuddered rather painfully as she stopped herself with the soles of her boots against the wall.

Once her momentum was stopped, she just breathed for a second, grateful that, somehow, Donald and Goofy had managed to hang on. Her vision flickered again, her head pounding from using so much of her power all at once. If Celina were here she would surely be yelling about how reckless Aila was for exceeding her limits. And it appeared that her limits had indeed been exceeded: not a moment later her rope began to shudder, and then all at once it vanished, leaving Aila holding nothing but air. She screamed, but thankfully at this point she was relatively close to the ground. Her back slammed into the ground just a second later, hard, and although the landing was jarring enough to knock the wind out of her, she wasn't dead, and she was gonna count that as a win because honestly how was she not dead after falling off a cliff like that um wow.

"AILA! ARE YOU OKAY?!" Donald shouted, his voice echoing against the stone surfaces surrounding Aila. She just breathed for another second, listening to the waves lap against the edge of the small slab of a stone shore she had fallen onto. She wasn't sure if she was glad not to be wet or annoyed that the water didn't go all the way up to the cliffside – that probably would have been a less painful landing from the height she'd been at when the rope vanished. But then she'd be treading water, so… this was probably the best case scenario.

"I-I'm okay!" she called back hoarsely, her vision swimming and blood pounding in her ears, but again, she was alive and conscious, so overall it was a win.

A very faint green light surrounded her and she felt the edge get taken off the worst of her injuries. Donald must have tried to cast a healing spell, but he was pretty far away. Still, she was grateful for the little bit of relief. "STAY THERE!" Donald called down again. "WE'LL FIND A WAY DOWN TO YOU!"

Aila lifted an arm and gave him a thumbs up, not entirely sure he could see it but too tired to give a verbal response. She let her arm fall back to her side and just focused on breathing, watching the slightly blurry forms of Donald and Goofy shuffle out of view above her as they presumably went to look for a way down to her. Did they get Mor'du? Aila had kind of lost track of their main target once those Neoshadows ganged up on her.

After another minute or so Aila forced herself to sit up, blinking hard as she took a closer look around. There were a few large stones near the wall of the cliff, grey on grey, even the waves slapping the stone shore seeming to merge into the same monotone, colorless scheme. Aila placed and hand flat on her ground to steady herself, the other wrapped around her middle as she continued to breathe. Man, this world was so beautiful where they landed, but here…? If she didn't know better she would think she'd been transported to a different world entirely. It just looked so… bleak.

Warmth suddenly blossomed on Aila's palm and she looked down with a start, her eyes widening as trails of white light suddenly blossomed away from her hand along the stony ground, like roots spreading outward from a tree. The trails of light continued to split and grow, some dipping down into the sea, others reaching the stones against the cliffside and climbing up them, higher and higher until the entire cliffside was glittering with paths of light. Aila blinked, and then breathed out a laugh. Hey! She did it! She found the magic pocket!

She placed her other hand flat on the ground as well, hoping to give as much contact as she could to this place, to fulfill the mission Yen Sid had entrusted her with. Her other hand warmed as well, more light blossoming to join the rest. One of the large stones in particular seemed to be attracting much of the light, its center pulsing and glowing like it was drinking the stuff up. That was probably good, right? Aila kept her hands firmly placed for a bit longer before finally pulling them away, her head feeling very light now, like she was close to fainting. She sat back and rubbed her temples. "Sorry," she breathed aloud. "I think that's all I can do… I hope that's enough…"

She got no response (not that she had really expected any), but though the light faded a bit from the floor, it didn't fade from the stones, so she felt like that was a good sign. Her lips twitched into a proud smile, but then she put a hand to her heart and held her breath. She was doing something Celina would normally guide her on, right? Would the Spirit say something now, here? She concentrated, silently calling to Celina.

Only the waves broke the silence.

Discouraged once again, Aila let her hand fall. "Really? Not even here…?" She shut her eyes, her shoulders hunching in frustration. "I don't know what else to try…" She lay back on the ground and gripped at her hair, both exhausted and upset. "Why can't I reach you?!" She sighed heavily, gazing sadly up at the overcast sky. "I just… wish I could get some answers here… I miss you…"

The ground shuddered lightly and Aila bolted up into a sitting position again, worried that there might be an earthquake. The bottom of a cliffside was probably a terrible location to be in during an earthquake, unless you liked getting crushed by falling rocks. She glanced around nervously, but it seemed like it had only been a very small quake. That was when the stone that had been glowing the most caught her eye. It was glowing even more now, the light swirling within its center in a slow, almost hypnotizing way. Aila cocked her head and slowly pushed herself to her feet, feeling suddenly drawn to the stone. Cautiously, she approached, her eyes glued to the light within, something in it calling her closer. She stopped about a foot away and held her breath, anticipation dancing along her skin, like her body was expecting something that her brain hadn't figured out yet. Very slowly, the light within the stone extended outward, reaching toward her almost like a hand, its delicate fingers stretching up and forward until they were brushing Aila's forehead. She stood perfectly still for a few heartbeats, and then…

It was like a strong electric current was suddenly flowing from the light into her, Aila gasping as her vision completely whited out, various colors popping in her minds eye at such a rapid rate that she couldn't even decipher which colors they were. Then, as quickly as it had come, it was over, Aila stumbling back as her vision returned and the hand of light was pulled back into the stone. She put her palm to her forehead and choked out a "What the heck?!"

A handful of garbled whispers brushed Aila's ear, too quiet to understand, but definitely not a sound made by the waves or wind. Aila's heart skipped a beat before she realized, no, this didn't sound like Celina's voice. In fact it didn't sound like a single voice at all, but rather multiple separate voices, all overlapping in a jumbled mess of whispered confusion. What were they saying…?

"Aila!"

Aila turned to see Donald hurrying around the corner of the cliffside, Goofy not far behind him. The whispers stopped immediately.

Aila shook off her confusion and waved. "Oh, you found a way down after all."

They came to a stop and Donald put his hands on his hips. "Of course!" He blinked, seeming to just then realize all the weird glowy things happening in this area. "Wow…"

"Gwarsh, what's all this?" Goofy asked, seeming rather awed.

Aila smiled proudly. "I did the thing! Uh, at least I think I did… Turns out this is the place we were looking for! Good thing I fell, I guess?"

Donald grinned. "Oh boy!"

Goofy chuckled. "Ahyuck! See? It was somewhere 'down' after all! Guess the trick was fallin' somewhere."

Aila made a face. "Wait, does that mean if I do this on another world I'll have to fall off another cliff or something? Because let me tell you, that was not fun."

Donald waved a hand dismissively. "Aw, you fall off of stuff all the time."

"Um, _no_ , I _almost_ fall off of stuff all the time, but usually I'm able to avoid it."

"So, uh, are we done then?" Goofy asked.

Aila looked around one more time. "I… think so?" She huffed, annoyed once again as she continued, "If _someone_ was talking to me I'd know for sure if I did it right, but that's not happening, so I have to just assume."

"Well it sure looks like you activated somethin'," Goofy said, indicating the brightest stone in particular.

"Oh, yeah, I wouldn't go near that if I were you," Aila pointed out. "It just zapped me in the head."

"It what?" Donald asked, both he and Goofy giving Aila a rather concerned once over upon hearing that news. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Aila shrugged. "I just saw a bunch of colors for a second. It was weird. _And_ unappreciated." She turned and glared at the stone. " _You're welcome_ for preventing you from dying, world! Way to thank me, gosh."

Goofy chuckled. "Well I'm glad you're all right. That mean ol' bear ran off before the fight was over, but we were able to take care of all the Heartless it summoned."

"Yeah, and now that you've fixed this place, hopefully they'll be the only Heartless we see," Donald pointed out.

Aila nodded. "Cool. So… should we go?"

"Guess so," Goofy said with a nod.

"Yeah, let's hurry back to try and be there for the end of Sora's test," Donald agreed. Aila held in a sigh. Well, that had been a short adventure. But she supposed it was good that it had been a successful one.

"C'mon, the way up is over here," Goofy said, gesturing for Aila to follow as he and Donald started back the way they came.

Aila nodded and took a few steps to follow.

" _You… w… sh…"_

Another whisper? Aila glanced back for a moment, but everything was silent again. Maybe she was imagining things. She was still feeling pretty worn out from all the power she'd used. Maybe it was just the wind after all.

She started forward again, but as she walked, her ears began to feel like they were getting clogged and her vision started pulling in a strangely disorienting way. A chill ran under her skin but then in the next heartbeat she was feeling too hot, her breathing too loud and the earth feeling off kilter beneath her feet.

"Ah…" she breathed, stumbling slightly to a stop.

"Something wrong?" she heard Donald ask, but when she tried to search for him her vision started to tunnel even more, darkness closing in on the edges at an alarming rate.

"I feel… kinda… strange…" she gasped. She reached out as her vision faded completely, feeling Goofy's hand catch her arm. "I can't… see…"

She was unconscious before she hit the floor.

KHKHKHKH

Yeahhh so I was originally planning on finishing this world in this chapter but this was REALLY LONG ALREADY and I was running late with writing so ha now you guys get a cliffhanger, sorry!

I hope the dream stuff wasn't confusing – dreams are kinda hard to write since they don't make a lot of sense… so I guess actually maybe it's better if it was confusing?

Also, sorry if people are unhappy with not seeing more of Merida's story… it's kinda a personal story so it doesn't really lend itself to other people tagging along that much. But we'll see her one more time before we leave this world, so don't worry. I kinda like just having the two plots intersect a few times, but maybe that's a personal preference. I hope it's been a fun read anyway!

I guess that's it! Please leave a review to let me know how you're liking the story! Even very short reviews keep me motivated :) See you in two weeks! I'll try to get back to the every other Friday schedule. Oh by the way ONLY TWO MORE UPDATES UNTIL KH3 IS OUT OMG GET HYPED

~Fade


	6. Are You Sleeping?

Ugh, I'm sorry this is a week late… I had so much trouble with this chapter. I really hope it's not horrible to read. I tried really hard, but… I don't know. Argh. I'm sorry.

Thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed, each one is so wonderful to read and really keeps me going even when I'm angry at my own writing haha~ The support you all continue to give me is just mind blowing. So thank you, thank you, thank you!

I guess I don't have much to say this time, so… Let's just jump in.

* * *

" _Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,_ _  
_ _Tears from the depths of some divine despair_ _  
_ _Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,_ _  
_ _In looking on the happy autumn fields,_ _  
_ _And thinking of the days that are no more."_

― Alfred Lord Tennyson

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Are You Sleeping?**

Something was very wrong.

Riku couldn't put his finger on it, but the second he'd opened his eyes on this world, he'd known – things were off. This world wasn't like the others. Not to mention it had taken him a heck of a lot more effort to get to this one, almost like it had wanted to keep him out. And his Dream Eaters didn't seem to have followed him… Was he still in the test? He quickly looked himself over – still in a fifteen-year-old version of his body. Okay, so he was probably still in the test at least. But…

He covered his eyes with one hand and stood perfectly still for a few moments, trying to get a better sense of things. This place smelled familiar – Radiant Garden. Though he was surprised that the amount of Darkness he was able to pick up on didn't seem any less in this sleeping version of the world – in fact, if anything, the Darkness felt stronger than ever, despite the peaceful façade the town had donned. He removed his hand and opened his eyes again, glancing around suspiciously at the clean-cut buildings and sparkling cobblestones. Why did things feel so off? Everything looked… fine.

Tentatively, Riku started down one of the cobblestone streets, his footsteps echoing very strangely off the walls on either side of him. It was quiet here. Where was everyone? He wasn't sure where he was headed, but he figured the best place to start would probably be to find someone and ask if there had been anything out of the ordinary going on. Usually the unordinary was what he was meant to head for in these worlds.

Riku rounded a corner and noticed a woman in a purple dress standing in the middle of the street up ahead, a woven basket slung onto one arm. Her back was to him, but Riku straightened up anyway, trying to be as polite as he could as he approached the stranger.

"Excuse me," he called. The woman didn't reply. She didn't even turn around, or flinch, or anything; it was like she hadn't heard him at all. Riku furrowed his brow, confused, and tried again. "Excuse me, ma'am? I was wondering if there's been any trouble around here recently?"

Again, the woman didn't respond in any way. In fact, now that Riku was closer, the stillness of the woman was starting to make him uneasy. It was almost like she was frozen in place. Carefully, Riku made his way around the woman, trying to catch her eye, only to feel his heart nearly stop in surprise when he could finally see her face.

Or, rather, the space where her face should be.

Her features were all blurred and blotted out, leaving her terrifyingly faceless, her legs still mid-stride, but her featureless body frozen in time.

Riku stumbled back, his eyes wide with panic. "Wh-what is this?!"

"You are very persistent."

Riku spun to his left and felt his eyes widen even more as they landed on what had unfortunately become a somewhat common sight during this test: A tall, tan young man with pointed silver hair and unsettling yellow eyes, draped in an Organization XIII coat, though Riku didn't remember him ever being a member. This man had been following Riku since the test began, spewing cryptic nonsense all the while. It was frustrating.

Riku's eyes narrowed. "You again!"

The young man smiled humorlessly. "I could say the same to you. Don't you ever give up?"

Riku wasn't entirely sure what this guy was referring to, but her glared back nonetheless. "No. I don't."

The young man sneered. "Of course not."

Riku gestured to the faceless woman. "Did you do this?"

The man glanced at the woman, appearing uninterested. "I suppose you could say that. She wasn't worth remembering, so, I didn't bother."

Outrage lit in Riku's heart, but he swallowed it down, growling out carefully, " _Everyone_ is worth remembering."

The man scoffed. "Of course. Such a noble young man like yourself would _never_ forget anyone, would you? I bet there's not a face in passing that you couldn't recall."

Riku hesitated. "Well…"

The man walked up to the woman. "Don't allow yourself to become burdened by unimportant details. You'll never reach your goals if you're so easily distracted." He reached out and touched the woman's shoulder. As soon as his fingers made contact, her body shuddered, and then like dust in the wind the woman broke apart and faded into nothing.

"No!" Riku shouted, reaching out in vain. But she was already gone. He gritted his teeth, his hand balling into a fist as he once again glared at the silver haired man.

The young man glanced at him. "Dreams are more forgiving – easier to populate. But this place isn't sleeping; there's only one person dreaming here."

Riku's fist momentarily relaxed, his anger replaced with confusion as he considered the implication of the mysterious man's words. "If this isn't a Sleeping World… then what is it?"

"Come now, keep up," the man taunted, facing Riku fully once again, a smirk back on his face. "Memories are so similar to dreams, aren't they? But their rules are much stricter – more rigid. All useless details tend to fall away, the sharp edges smoothing over time into something easier to hold onto. And unlike a dream, the reality of a true memory cannot be changed. No matter how you may try to insert yourself, you must simply watch what has already unfolded. That's how you can really tell the difference. So now, tell me: Are you dreaming, or not?"

Riku blinked and straightened up, taking another look around. Now that he was really looking for it, the buildings all seemed… a little fuzzy, like they weren't fully formed. And any other people around, few though there were, seemed frozen in place, faceless, devoid of detail, like someone couldn't quite recall any of them well enough for them to really exist here. "This is… a memory?" His eyes snapped back to the man. "Yours?"

The man's smirk widened. "Look at that, you're not so slow after all."

"Why?" Riku pressed. "This isn't… this isn't right. I'm only halfway through the test."

The young man rolled his eyes. "You will return to your pointless little test soon enough. If you'd like to, you can return right now. This memory wasn't meant for you. But you just had to follow Sora deeper and deeper…"

Riku perked up. "Sora? He's here too?" He was a little worried about his friend – they'd gotten separated so immediately in this test. Riku knew he shouldn't worry – Sora had grown so much since their days on the Islands. He could take care of himself just fine. But still… he would feel better if they were able to regroup.

The man smiled, his yellow eyes glinting with some mischievous emotion that Riku couldn't fully pinpoint. "If you're so curious, then be my guest. Stay. If you can discover the secrets this memory holds, maybe I'll start taking you seriously." He turned and held up a hand, a portal of Darkness forming before him and enveloping him easily into its inky folds.

"Wait!" Riku called, but the portal was already fading away, taking the mysterious man with it. Damn it. Riku's nails dug into his palms as he clenched his fists again. What was this guy's goal? Was this memory meant for Sora? Why?

Riku closed his eyes again, focusing very intently on the way this place felt. Darkness was pooling at the castle, flowing like a river in his mind's eye toward that singular spot. Blinking his eyes open again, Riku looked at the castle, noting that its features were much more defined than any of the buildings in town. That must be where the memory was focused. So, that must be where Sora was. Riku immediately set off in that direction, determined to find his friend and figure out how they both got pulled so far out of the test they should have been in the middle of. If this world wasn't sleeping, then there was probably no keyhole – there must be something else they were supposed to find. But… what?

Riku jogged up to the castle's gates, easily unlocking them with his Keyblade and hurrying through. He had no idea what he was looking for, but he figured he'd know when he saw it. Or maybe he'd find Sora, and they could figure this out together. That would be ideal, but either way, he wasn't about to leave now without getting some answers.

"Careful, my boy, be very gentle."

"I know, I know! I'm being careful, sir, don't worry."

Voices. Riku slowed as he reached the castle's postern, very carefully peaking around the corner to try and see who was there. His eyes widened. Was that…?!

DiZ – or, no, Ansem the Wise – was sitting on the wall opposite of Riku's hiding spot, the blond, bearded man watching a small, orange haired boy on his left. The boy looked to be maybe around seven years old, the tiniest baby Riku had ever seen cradled in his arms. That couldn't be Danny… could it? And the baby, then, was that Aila? No, that age difference was too much. But maybe… Alex…? What on earth were they doing in that mysterious man's memory?

The little boy beamed up at DiZ. "She sure sleeps a lot, doesn't she?"

DiZ hummed thoughtfully. "She does…"

The boy's smile fell. "Are you worried it didn't take…?" He looked back down at the baby in his arms. "How long did it take me?"

"A bit longer than this, I'll admit," DiZ sighed. "But I fear we're running out of time, and it took so long for her to arrive… so I needed to rush things… I worry that I might have rushed the process too much, this time. I do hope we won't need to start again…"

The little boy shook his head stubbornly. "No way, sir. Alex is strong, I can tell. Mia's definitely with her."

"She hasn't shown any sign of that yet. I should have waited for some indication before I removed her, but I was starting to wonder if the experiment was being…" DiZ trailed off, a dark expression crossing his features. The little boy looked up at him inquisitively, and DiZ shook his head. "Never mind. I'm sure I'm being paranoid."

The little boy blinked up at the sky, his expression immediately brightening. "Oh, sir! It's starting! Here, now we'll be able to tell, I'm sure!"

DiZ followed the boy's gaze and smiled up at the sky. "Ah, yes. At last. The lights are falling rather late today, aren't they?"

The little boy laughed. "They're fickle!"

DiZ chuckled. "Now where did you learn that word? From Cyrus?"

The boy shook his head, his orange hair jostling with the movement. "I learned it from you, sir!"

DiZ coughed. "Ah. Did you?"

Riku was momentarily distracted by the sight of hundreds of orbs of light beginning to rain down from the sky, like tufts of snow drifting gently toward the earth. He'd never seen this before – it was beautiful.

The little boy gently held the baby up toward the lights. "Okay, Mia, time to wake up now! Alex, you too! The lights are warm, aren't they? Show us some Light of your own, too!"

A few of the lights drifted delicately down onto the baby, eliciting a gentle glow from her sleeping form. DiZ and the boy seemed to hold their breath as they watched her, seemingly waiting for something to happen. At last, the baby shifted, her eyes fluttering open and one of her tiny hands opening as another light fell onto it. Her miniscule fingers began to glow very faintly yellow, and from her palm two tiny butterflies made of yellow light blossomed, flapping their little wings and taking flight above the baby's body.

The little boy practically started jumping before seeming to remember he was holding an infant and restraining himself. "She did it! See, sir?! Did you see?! I told you Mia was there! We did it!"

DiZ placed a hand over his heart and sighed heavily, obviously relieved. "Yes, my boy. We did it. Thank goodness." He looked up and, unfortunately, his eyes happened to land on Riku, who was still peaking around the corner. Shit. Riku quickly pulled his head back around the corner, internally cursing himself for being spotted. Wait, could people see him if this was a memory…?

"You there! Who are you?!"

Yep, they could see him. DiZ did not sound happy. For a moment, Riku debated just running away, but… this was a very curious turn of events. Why was this a part of that mysterious man's memory? Had he known DiZ, and Danny and Alex? And… Aila too? Where was she…? He couldn't just leave now. He needed to know more.

Taking a deep breath, Riku walked around the corner, holding his hands up in what he hoped was a placating way. Sort of a, 'I mean you no harm,' kind of gesture. DiZ was standing now, his body somewhat blocking Danny and Alex from Riku's line of sight as he stared the newcomer down, his brow set into a very stern glare. Riku felt like it would have had more of an effect if he hadn't have gotten that exact same look from DiZ so many times last year – he felt slightly immune to it now.

DiZ raised a brow, seeming surprised to see that the person who had been spying on them was so young. "Young man, I will ask you again: Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

Riku decided to be forthcoming. "I'm Riku. I'm sorry for intruding. The… gate was open." Riku regretting lying immediately – he knew DiZ wouldn't buy it. DiZ had a knack for seeing right through his lies.

DiZ's eyes narrowed. "Was it, now?" Yep, busted immediately. Great. DiZ glanced quickly back at the little boy behind him. "Danny, take Alex inside, _now_."

Danny pushed himself off the wall, holding Alex close to his chest, but instead of running into the castle, he just glared lightly at DiZ and stood his ground. "He seems okay to me…"

DiZ immediately seemed annoyed. "Daniel, do as I say."

Danny huffed. "You never let us talk to anyone. You can't keep locking us away, it's not fair."

"I CAN and I WILL," DiZ bellowed, his white coat billowing out around him as he gestured in his outburst. "If it means keeping you three safe, then I will!"

Danny recoiled lightly, seeming a little taken aback, but then just as quickly straightened up again, his blue eyes flashing gold momentarily. "This is not how we agreed to do things," he grumbled, and though his voice was still that of a child, the way he spoke felt… suddenly much older. Riku's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Was that Cyrus talking…?

DiZ's expression was livid. "I did not want any part of this 'agreement' in the first place."

"But you _did_ agree," Cyrus continued through Danny, holding his ground. The little boy and DiZ continued to stare each other down, the air almost sparking with frustration between them.

"Uh," Riku began, deciding maybe he should try and ease the tension a little. If this version of Cyrus was anything like the one he knew, then him getting angry was not ideal. "Let me start again. I'm sorry, your gate wasn't open. I unlocked it. But I wasn't trying to break in – I thought I might have sensed some trouble in the castle, and I came to check it out. That's all."

"Unlocked it?" DiZ asked, both he and Danny turning to face Riku at that, anger seeming to immediately leave them both.

Danny took a step forward. "How?"

Riku hesitated for only a second before holding out his hand and calling his Keyblade forth, his fingers wrapping easily around the familiar handle.

Danny's expression lit up, any older air he had just held completely gone. "A Keyblade! You have a Keyblade! Sir, sir! We found one! Look!"

DiZ's jaw was slack, amazement clear in his eyes. "A Keyblader…" His eyes locked on to the weapon. "One of Darkness, though…"

"That's okay!" Danny insisted. "That part doesn't matter, you know that! We just need a Keyblader, any Keyblader, to help us!"

DiZ crossed his arms, seeming conflicted. "Yes… yes, that's true…"

Riku dismissed his Keyblade and frowned. "Help you with what, exactly?"

Danny turned to DiZ, trying very hard not to start bouncing as he once again seemed to remember the infant in his arms. "Please can I tell him, sir, please please please?"

DiZ shook his head. "Not yet. We should make sure Celina agrees."

"She will! You know she will! Come on!"

DiZ shot Danny a very stern look. "You know that we need to be careful. Do you wish to be fooled again?"

Danny deflated a little, pouting at the floor. " _I've_ never been fooled…" he mumbled, though the way he trailed off made Riku think there was more to that. Maybe DiZ had meant that statement to be directed toward Cyrus, not Danny?

Riku gasped, something sharp sparking in his chest. It was like the Darkness of this place had suddenly spiked, though there didn't seem to be any physical change to the castle or its surroundings, so what…? The sound of Darkness pooling caught his attention and he turned to his right to find various Shadow Heartless burrowing their way up from the ground, their beady yellow eyes darting from one person to the next as they took this area in.

"Heartless?!" DiZ gasped, taking a step back.

Another whoosh of Darkness sounded, tiny pools forming in the air and a few floating Heartless blossoming into being from them. These were Silver Rocks, small floating Heartless with triangular white coats and hats that tended to shoot searing white light at whoever they were attacking. Not a huge threat, but they were fast, and could be annoying in larger groups. Riku immediately summoned his Keyblade and rushed in front of the other humans in the area, taking a defensive stance between them and the Heartless.

"I'll handle this," Riku said.

"I'll help!" Danny said, and Riku glanced back to see him trying to hand Alex off to DiZ. But DiZ refused to take her.

"No! Danny, you mustn't! We don't know if we can trust this boy yet!"

Riku caught Danny's eye and smiled. "Don't worry – this'll be easy. Hang tight."

Riku sprung into action, rushing the nearest Shadows and taking them out easily with a horizontal slash. They were very weak. A Silver Rock attempted to fire a beam of light at his head and he quickly blocked, bouncing the light right back at the one that had fired it and effectively dazing the little Heartless. Quickly, Riku lunged and hit it with a vertical strike, throwing his Keyblade at the other Silver Rocks before the first one had even fully faded away. His blade struck true, disintegrating two out of the three remaining Silver Rocks on contact, the final one zipping away in an attempt to flee. But Riku was fast too, catching his Keyblade in one hand and then rushing after the enemy and stabbing it from underneath, the Silver Rock vanishing in a flurry of Darkness. Two Shadows remained, which Riku made quick work of as well. All in all, probably one of the easier Heartless fights he'd ever had. Nothing to be worried about, really.

"WHOAAA!" Danny was gushing, almost dancing from foot to foot in his excitement. "That was soooo cool! You really are a Keyblader, wow! Did you see that, sir? Did you see how quickly he took them all out?!" Danny turned to DiZ, but his excited expression immediately fell at the look on DiZ's face. "Sir…?"

DiZ was pale, his eyes wide as he continued to stare at the spot where the final Silver Rock had disappeared from. Riku frowned, dismissing his Keyblade and straightening up. What had DiZ so freaked out…? Those Heartless were hardly anything to worry over.

"I've… never seen that type before, have you…?" DiZ whispered, seeming to be talking to Danny, but only just barely. He didn't wait for him to reply, either. "But… that's not possible, there shouldn't be any new breeds. Unless…" His eyes widened even more and he stumbled backwards, looking like he'd just seen a ghost. He turned to Danny, his expression wild with fear. "Where is your sister? Where is Aila, who was she with today?!"

Danny took a few worried steps away from the man, cradling Alex a little closer, like he wasn't sure what DiZ might do in this state. "I-I dunno… I think I saw her with Even? Ienzo was looking for her this morning, so maybe with him…"

DiZ breathed out a curse and bolted for the castle. "Stay here!" he commanded over his shoulder to Danny. "Stay here, _do not move_!" DiZ paused for only a moment at the castle's entrance, bracing one hand on the door as he shot Riku a desperate look. "If you want to prove that you are on our side, then watch those children! Do not let them out of your sight! I will be back, just… just don't move!"

Riku was confused, and a little bit thrown for a loop. He had never seen DiZ act like this before. Why would new Heartless breed have anything to do with Aila? Dread pooled in Riku's gut, the smiling face of the girl he'd come to know little by little in recent months flashing in his mind's eye. Was she hurt? Memory or no, the thought made his heart drop.

Riku glanced at Danny, whose eyes were flickering rapidly between blue and gold, his shoulders slightly hunched around Alex as he seemingly waged an internal battle over whether or not to follow DiZ's orders. Riku knelt down and put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"

Danny's eyes settled back into their bright blues, the little boy blinking a few times as his vision seemed to refocus on Riku. He hesitated. "I'm scared."

Riku tightened his grip on Danny's shoulder. "That's okay. We all get scared, sometimes. But Di… Ansem, I'm sure he's taking care of everything. So don't worry."

Danny held Alex a little closer, sniffling lightly. "Yeah…" He looked at Riku again. "You saw us, didn't you? You saw Alex use her Light…"

Riku was a little taken aback by the subject change, but decided to go with it. "Yes, I did."

Danny nodded. "Do… do you know what that means?"

Riku wasn't entirely sure what Danny was asking, but he thought it was probably best to be as honest as possible right now. "I know about Spirits, and I know that means she's bound to one. And I can tell that you are, too. Is that what you wanted to know?"

Danny's grip on Alex tightened. "Yeah," he whispered. He was looking at Riku a little cautiously now. "You're a good guy… aren't you?"

Riku cocked his head. "Does knowing about the Spirits mean I'm not?"

Danny looked away. "Depends on how you know, I guess…"

Riku crossed his arms, trying to think of a way to explain it without telling this child that he was just a piece of a memory. Finally, he smiled. "I have friends like you. That's how I know."

Danny immediately perked up at that. "Like me?!"

Riku nodded. "That's right."

A smile blossomed on Danny's face. "Then I knew it. You must be good." He leaned in rather conspiratorially, still smiling in a way that seemed to light up his entire face. "Someday, I'm gonna save everyone. You'll see. Everyone in the whole universe! You'll help me, won't you? And maybe your friends will, too!"

Riku was struck by how… different this version of Danny was to the one he'd met. If it weren't for the telltale hair and eyes and freckles, he would have thought that this had to be a completely different person. This Danny seemed so full of energy, and hope, and confidence. He furrowed his brow. How could he grow up to be so different? What would happen in his life to change him so drastically? A heavy sadness pulsed within Riku as the possibilities ran through his mind. After a moment, Riku smiled gently. "Yes, I'd be honored to help you. What do you need me to do?"

Danny laughed and opened his mouth, but as he did his face suddenly distorted, almost like it was glitching out. Riku pulled back in surprise. Danny's face smoothed back into a smile, but he was entirely frozen now, like time had rooted him in place.

Riku placed a hand on Danny's shoulder again. "Danny?!"

"I think you've heard quite enough."

Riku's heart leapt into his throat at the sound of the new voice. He stood, a little too fast, and spun to face the man he hated more than anything, his Keyblade forming in his hand almost on its own. "Ansem!"

Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. He wasn't really Ansem at all – rather, he was Xehanort's Heartless, his long black, white, and red coat fluttering idly around his ankles as he came to a stop before Riku, a sneer plastered across his face. But Riku had always known him under the name he'd stolen, and so he would always think of him that way. "Riku," he cooed, his voice deep and chastising. "You really did learn nothing from me. How did you lose track of your goal so quickly?"

Riku gritted his teeth, gesturing sharply with his Keyblade. "Shut up!"

"He's right, you know," came the monotone voice of the mysterious man from before, his slender body appearing from a pool of Darkness that blossomed at Ansem's side. "Didn't I tell you to stay focused? And now look what's happened – you've gone and missed the main event. Wasting time with the secondary characters."

Riku's glare intensified. "What's the point of all this? How do you even have a memory of these people at all? Were you spying on them or something? Hiding in the shadows?"

The young man chuckled. "Don't insult me. I acquired this memory in a much more organic way. After all, the best place to hide isn't in the shadows – it's in the light." He breezed to the right, making a wide arc around Riku to be able to see Danny more clearly. "This memory was constructed based on this location, and the people I knew here. The conversations you saw may not have happened in this exact form, but I imagine it was something very close. Alas, I will admit, I did not witness this part myself. My full attention was elsewhere. But it seems my mind's eye did its best to fill in the blanks. If I knew someone well enough, they are able to exist here, in this pocket of memory, and will act in whatever way my memory of them dictates they might."

Riku was painfully aware of the fact that Ansem, Seeker of Darkness was still on one side of him, and this mysterious man was now on the other. It would be harder to defend against them both if they decided to attack…

"Don't worry," the mysterious man soothed, seeming to pick up on Riku's anxiousness. "We have no interest in fighting you. Not here."

"Then what _do_ you want?" Riku demanded.

At that moment, strange sounds began to echo throughout the postern, all jumbling together into a mess of confusing noise. Riku thought he could hear a child's laughter, as well as snippets of a young girl singing:

" _Are you sleeping,_

 _Are you sleeping,_

 _Brother John…?_

 _Brother John…?"_

The song overlapped and continued, too confusing to follow from there. Other voices, older voices, began speaking all at once, too many at once to make out anything specific. The laughter morphed into screams. Riku covered his ears, the sound making him feel like he was going to pass out, it was so chaotic and sharp and _loud_. "Wh-what…?!"

The young man smirked. "You might have figured it out if you'd kept going. But like I said – I'm afraid you've missed it." The sounds faded, and Riku sighed, relieved. The man glanced toward the castle's entrance. "Just look…"

Riku hesitated, but then he did look, his eyes widening as time seemed to resume and DiZ came barreling out the castle's doors, desperately cradling the form of a small, raven-haired girl. The breath caught in Riku's throat as DiZ got closer, the smell of the blood dripping from the girl's unconscious body hitting him like a whip. "Aila?" he choked out, his voice just barely escaping him.

"AILA!" Danny cried, no longer frozen, his features all returned to normal. It was as if his conversation with Riku hadn't happened at all, his full attention on DiZ as he rushed to meet him.

DiZ grabbed the shoulder of Danny's shirt desperately, his expression wild, his breathing erratic. "We must go, _now_!"

"What happened?!" Danny demanded, his voice watery and afraid.

"Traitors, all of them! Damn them all to hell!" DiZ began to push Danny forward. "Run my boy, _run_! And do not stop until I tell you to! Do not set Alex down for even a second! We must leave this place; _do not look back_!"

A vicious roar rattled the area just as DiZ and Danny took off running, a behemoth-sized, multicolored monster bursting out of the castle. It vaguely resembled a wolf, the Dream Eater symbol emblazoned on its neon chest fully visible as it paused to howl dangerously at the sky.

"A Nightmare?!" Riku gasped, rushing toward the Dream Eater and stopping in its path to prevent it from following DiZ and Danny. "But I thought this world wasn't sleeping?!"

"It seems the dreams are trying to call you back," the mysterious man replied. "Like I said before: memories and dreams behave in similar ways. Sometimes, one might bleed into the other."

The wolf lunged at Riku, its mouth easily big enough to swallow him whole if it got the chance. But Riku managed to counter, slamming the blade of his weapon against the beast's jaw and sending it stumbling back a couple of steps. The wolf whined and shook its head once before growling, clearly angry. It lunged again, and this time Riku dodged.

The mysterious man clicked his tongue, annoyed. "It seems our time here is up."

Riku steadied himself and then glanced the man's way to try and figure out what he meant, the man's gaze trained on their surroundings. Riku took a closer look and realized with a start that everything had started to fall away: buildings, the skyline, everything was beginning to dissolve into something like water, like the very foundation of the world had been pulled away.

"Oh well," the man sighed, sounding unimpressed.

The wolf swiped a massive paw and Riku dodged again, forced up onto the nearby wall as the floor beneath him seemed to threaten to dissolve.

The young man made a portal and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness exited, the man following closely behind him. Before he was out of sight, he glanced back and smiled. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

The wolf lunged again and Riku jumped, but as he did, everywhere around him seemed to dissolve – there was nowhere to land. Riku screamed, falling, falling, falling into a mishmash of colors that once made up the place he'd just been, the howl of the Nightmare he'd left behind fading as reality crumbled into nothing. Riku turned his body around so he could see where he was falling to, a massive keyhole glistening beneath him. The route to the next world…? On instinct, he unlocked the path, allowing light to wash over him and pull him in. He glanced back one more time before it could fully overtake him and he was transported to the next Sleeping World, the colors of the dissolved memory he'd just witnessed still swirling behind him.

KHKHKH

~A few minutes earlier~

Sora slammed a fist into the ground, so hard that he felt all the bones in his hand shudder in protest. His face was wet, but that didn't matter right now. He looked up, fury in his eyes as they landed on the man before him. The mysterious man that had been following him around throughout this entire test stood there, a smile plastered on his face, his yellow eyes glinting cruelly in the flickering lights of the basement room. A massive Nightmare in the form of a wolf crouched next to the man, its tail twitching menacingly as it seemed to try and decide what to do next.

"You're a _monster_!" Sora cried, forcing himself to his feet and gripping his Keyblade furiously at his side.

"Am I?" the man asked, an innocent air coloring his words. "Come now, Sora. You seem upset. Are you angry? Angry to discover the truth about your little _friend_? You did see what she created, didn't you?"

"She did NOTHING WRONG!" Sora bellowed, his anger spiking. "You're the one who did this, you did this! Not her!" Sora shook his head wildly. "She was just a little kid!" He stopped, gritting his teeth as he set the man with another scalding glare. "How _dare you_! You had no right!"

The man scoffed. "A little 'kid'? Even after this, you still understand so little, don't you… If anyone is a monster here, it's Ansem. Without him, none of this would have been possible. How many innocent hearts have fallen to his misguided research?"

"There's no way he wanted this!" Sora retorted.

Xemnas spoke up from Sora's other side, startling him. He had been following Sora around during this test too, despite the fact that he should have been dead. "And how would you know what Ansem wanted? He used those 'children' in ways you yourself should find despicable. They were nothing but pawns to him, a means to an end. What you saw was only the natural progression of an experiment like this one."

"STOP, stop calling her an experiment, she's not! Stop!" Sora demanded, feeling his whole body shaking with how enraged he was feeling.

The Nightmare wolf howled and lunged, Sora dodging swiftly to the left. But the wolf, it seemed, hadn't really been going for him, its massive claws ripping through the air and somehow seeming to tear a hole in reality itself. Sora gasped, his body suddenly feeling like it was being sucked toward the hole, along with all the color in the room. He planted his Keyblade in the floor and did his best to hold on, but it was clear this was a losing battle – the suction was just too intense.

"My apologies for the delay," the mysterious man called over the rush of air that sounded as everything, other than himself and Xemnas, was sucked toward the opening. "But I believe you have a test to be getting back to."

Sora's Keyblade loosed itself from the floor and he screamed, tumbling into the opening that the Nightmare had made, his body spinning wildly out of control until his instincts kicked in and he was able to right himself. A Keyhole glittered beneath him and his Keyblade unlocked it practically on its own, light engulfing Sora as he tried, desperately, to get ahold of himself, to stop feeling so angry, and lost, and afraid, and like he just wanted to get through this test as fast as possible now so he could see Aila with his own eyes, to make sure she was really okay, because even though he knew she had to be, when Ansem grabbed her, had run off with her cradled in his arms, she'd looked…!

The mysterious man and Xemnas watched him fall, only barely acknowledging the Nightmare wolf as it broke through the room's walls and barreled away to another section of the memory. Toward the other dreamer, no doubt.

Xemnas glanced at the man. "Was it enough?"

The man smirked, his eyes still trained on the opening Sora had fallen through. "Yes. It will be easier than ever to lead him the rest of the way, with his heart as distracted and vulnerable as it is now."

Xemnas smirked as well. "Good."

The mysterious man turned, his smile only growing as he created a Dark Portal. "A bleeding heart is so very easy to ensnare, isn't it?"

KHKHKHKH

Aila had no idea where she was. Normally, that would be at least mildly concerning, but for some reason she didn't feel worried. Actually, she felt pretty at peace with wherever this place was. It was almost entirely white, like the Light Corridors she had traveled through during her fight with Cyrus, but… softer, somehow, and not as empty.

Shards of mirrored glass hung in the air on all sides of her, some small, some larger, floating lazily, calmly. Aila walked up to one piece, just big enough to reflect her blue eyes back at her, and blinked slowly. The eyes in the mirror blinked back a breath later. How strange.

" _Short steps…_

 _Deep breath…_

 _Everything is… alright…"_

A slow, almost whispered version of the song Celina had sung to Aila so many months ago began to echo around the space, and Aila immediately spun to try and find the source, her heart fluttering hopefully in her chest. "Celina?!" she called, her voice echoing back to her a thousand times over, sounding very much like a chorus of people all calling the name at once. She had an urge to look to her left and, to her elation, caught sight of the back of Celina's cloaked form as she walked between the floating glass.

Aila almost choked in her excitement. "Celina!"

" _Chin up…_

 _I can't…_

 _Step into the… spotlight…"_

She ran around each piece of glass in her way, losing sight of Celina by the time she reached the spot the Spirit had just been in. Aila slowed, searching the area again for her missing friend.

" _She said…_

' _I'm sad'…_

 _Somehow without any words…"_

She caught another glimpse of Celina's cloak to her right and bolted for it, once again losing sight of her between the glass. Aila's brow furrowed in concern. She had to find Celina, she just had to!

" _I just…_

 _Stood there…_

 _Searching for an… answer…"_

She caught a few more glimpses of Celina, the Spirit always seeming to vanish by the time Aila reached the spot she's seen her walking through. Why? Was Celina avoiding her…?

She caught sight of the back of her cloak one more time and took off, determined not to lose her this time. She summoned Light to her heels and shoved the mirror shards out of the way, keeping her eyes trained on the retreating Spirit. A white door came into view, almost blending into the space around it – Aila might not have even noticed it had Celina not been making a beeline straight for it. Aila grinned, sure that Celina would have to stop once she reached the door, but to her confusion Celina kept walking, phasing through the closed door like a ghost and leaving no trace of herself left for Aila to find.

The music stopped.

Aila rushed up to the door and grabbed at the handle, trying to open it. The door appeared stuck. There was no keyhole, so it couldn't be locked, right? Aila grabbed the handle with both hands and began to pull, determined to get the door open and follow Celina inside.

" _Once you open this door, you will not ever be able to close it,_ " a voice whispered in Aila's ear. " _Are you sure you're ready…?_ "

Aila ignored the voice, doubling her efforts as she pulled on the door. Her only thought was that she _needed_ to find Celina, and Celina was in here. Very slowly, the door began to give.

" _As you wish,_ " the voice whispered, and then all at once the door gave way, swinging open so suddenly that Aila had to catch herself to keep from falling. She took a few deep breaths and gazed into the doorway, white light shining out to greet her. Aila straightened up and reached out, allowing the light to embrace her. It spread, swallowing her up, Aila shutting her eyes as she felt it wash over her entire being, comforted by its warmth and feeling deep in her heart that this was right.

"… _Celina…_ "

KHKHKHKH

"Aila…? Aila! Wake up _right now_!"

Aila's eyes fluttered open, her vision blurry and her head feeling more than a little murky as she tried to focus on her surroundings. After a few seconds, Donald and Goofy's forms solidified in front of her framed by a cloudy night sky, her two friends gazing at her with very worried expressions.

"…Huh…?" Aila breathed, confused. Was she sitting against the wall of the cliffside…? What had just happened? All at once, her memory of the place with the mirror shards returned to her, and she gasped and sat forward so quickly that Donald and Goofy were forced to pull back in surprise. "Celina!" The name escaped Aila almost viscerally, her heart aching at the realization that she'd been so close to finding the Spirit, but then when she'd finally opened the door… why had she woken up?!

Goofy placed a hand on her shoulder. "Did Celina say somethin' to ya…?"

Aila blinked a few times, trying to calm herself down before looking up at her friend. "I saw her! I… I think… Or… wait… was I just dreaming…?"

Donald rubbed his brow with a feathered hand. "You passed out. It might have just been a dream. Did it seem familiar to any time you've seen her before?"

Aila glanced at him and then let her gaze fall to the inky ocean stretching out across the horizon, night having fallen quickly since her loss of consciousness. A dream…? That would explain why Celina had been so hard to follow… And why she still wasn't actually saying anything. Not to mention, no, Aila had never seen that place with the mirror shards before, so it wasn't familiar to any other meeting she'd had with the Spirit. Aila closed her eyes and let her head fall. "…I thought I'd found her…"

There was a pause, and then Goofy squeezed her shoulder. "You seem tired, Aila. We found what we were lookin' for – ya did a real good job. Let's go back to the ship, okay?"

Aila sighed. "Okay."

"Hey." She looked up to see Donald smiling softly at her. "Goofy's right, you did a good job today. Let's focus on that. Celina might just need a little more time."

Aila blinked, trying to quell any moisture that might be threatening to spill over her lashes, and then smiled lightly back. "Do you think this world will be okay now?"

Donald nodded. "Yep! Because you came to help." He held out his hand. "Ready to go?"

Aila knew Donald was trying to boost her spirits with all his compliments (which were somewhat rare – she must have looked _really_ sad), but she appreciated it regardless of motivation. She accepted his hand and allowed him and Goofy to help her to her feet, shaking her head sharply once to keep her vision focused. Goofy was right, she _was_ super tired. Celina would probably be chastising her for using so much power. That must have been why she'd passed out. She took one last look around, the stones near the cliffside still glowing gently with the power she'd provided, looking downright magical now that the sun had set. Would Celina be proud of her? Hopefully at the very least Yen Sid would be satisfied, and this place would continue to live.

Donald and Goofy led Aila to the path they'd used to climb down, which, it turned out, was not so much a path as it was a very treacherous arrangement of indents in the cliffside that was made even MORE treacherous now that the sun had set. There was still a good amount of cloud cover keeping the star and moonlight from offering any help either, much to Aila's chagrin.

Aila felt her eyesight sharpen as she squinted up at the cliffside, her powers almost automatically helping her see through the darkness a little easier. She glanced at Donald and Goofy. "How difficult is it for you guys to see…?"

Goofy squinted as well, but of course, his eyes didn't change like Aila's had. "Gwarsh, well, it's not super easy…"

"It's so dark," Donald grumbled, clearly annoyed. He summoned his staff and shook the end a few times, mumbling a spell or two. The end of his staff lit up, like a lantern. "There we go!"

Aila crossed her arms, unimpressed. "Okay, and how are you going to hold that while you climb?"

Donald opened his mouth as if to answer, but then shut it again when he couldn't seem to think of a response.

Aila held out a hand and summoned a few orbs of Light, like the ones she'd started using to explode in enemies' faces (it was _so fun_ to do). "If I focus, I can keep these near us, and then you guys can see."

Donald frowned. "Aila, you've already used a lot of power here."

Aila held her ground. "No more than I've used on any other world we've been to. I still don't get the sudden worry. Besides, this is the best option."

Donald let out a frustrated sigh, but then he dismissed his staff, and Aila knew she had won. "Only until we reach the top."

Aila grinned. "Aye aye." She decided not to mention how wiped out she was feeling – if she did that, Donald and Goofy would likely just vote for spending the night down here, which sounded awful. They'd missed lunch _and_ dinner at this point. Also it was cold. And rocks made terrible mattresses.

And so they climbed, taking their time and catching their breath at any spot wide enough to risk doing so. Aila made a mental note to ask Sora to teach her his weird running up a wall thing he seemed to have been working on last year, his super-easy ascent up the Beast's Castle playing in her mind over and over as she struggled to find another foothold. Was that what he did to pass time in the Gummi Ship between worlds, just practice running up his walls or something? What a weirdo. He must teach her.

Aila felt her focus waver a few times as fatigue started really pulling at her body near the top, her lights flickering once or twice and eliciting worried questions from her friends. But she assured them that the reason for their flickering was that she'd just never tried to keep the orbs summoned for so long, which was both the truth and a lie all at once.

At long, long last, they made it to the top, all three of them collapsing on their backs in the dirt and spending a few minutes just breathing. Aila almost drifted off to sleep again, but forced herself to stay conscious. Wow, she was _really_ tired! She hadn't felt this worn out after healing the Pride Lands. Then again, she had been tired this morning too – maybe she just wasn't rested today. Whatever the cause, it sucked.

"It feels much later at night than it should be," Donald grumbled, finally sitting up and squinting up at the sky. The clouds had finally started to thin, revealing the moon sitting somewhat low in the sky.

Aila forced herself to sit up as well, rubbing her eyes a little. "Rafiki mentioned that time doesn't really move right in magic pockets. Sorry, I think I didn't mention that… So it might be much later than we think."

"Gwarsh, no wonder I'm so hungry," Goofy sighed, putting a hand on his stomach. "We should hurry back."

"Yeah," Donald agreed, standing and taking charge again. Aila went to pull out the map, but Donald's finger was immediately wagging in her face. "Don't even think about it! No more powers unless we get in a fight!"

Aila rolled her eyes. "Seriously, you're so paranoi—"

"It's not because of that," Donald interrupted, putting his hands on his hips. "You're exhausted. I'd rather not have you passing out again."

Aila looked at him in surprise. "I'm not that tired…"

Now it was Donald's turn to roll his eyes. "Please Aila, we know you better than that by now. Don't bother lying. Now come on, the sooner we get to the ship, the sooner we can all rest."

Aila felt her face heat up a little at being caught in her small lie. Jeez, apparently after hiding so many things last year, she'd used up every ounce of her lying capabilities with these guys. Goofy stood and offered her his hand, which she took. After she was standing, he linked arms with her and smiled down at her, silently indicating that he would help her along without her even having to ask, or admit that Donald had been right about her energy levels. If someone had told Aila a year ago that she would have friends who actually cared this much about her… well, she would have thought that someone was just trying to play a prank on her or something. Her cheeks burned a little more as she allowed her bangs to hide her face, a smile pulling at her lips.

Maybe, if she never found her way home… maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

Goofy and Aila followed Donald back through the ruined town and into the trees, the three of them chatting idly about whatever came to mind. Aila did her best not to complain about how far they had to walk, but it came up a few times. It felt like _ages._

"Are we getting close?" Aila finally had to ask, her hunger and general fatigue starting to make her a little bit irritable.

"Should be," Donald assured. He pointed to his right. "The stone circle thing should be that way. We're bypassing it – I think this is faster."

Aila was about to agree with that plan when a wisp suddenly popped into existence mere centimeters from her face, startling her. She yelped and pulled back, forcing Goofy to a stop as well.

Donald turned, alarmed, only to put his hands on his hips and glare at the little wisp. "Oh brother. We're done here, we're not following you any more."

The wisp seemed to glance back briefly at Donald before rushing at Aila's face once again, Aila again yelping and ducking before it could collide with her. But the wisp kept on her like an irritating little fly buzzing around her head, sticking close no matter which way she tried to avoid it.

"Gwarsh, I think it might be tryin' to tell ya somethin'," Goofy mused after being pulled around a little by Aila's erratic dodge attempts.

Aila unlinked her arm from Goofy's and swatted at the wisp with both hands. "Ahh, stop it! I healed your world, okay?! What else could you want?"

The wisp blinked out of existence and then reappeared a few feet away, a trail of identical wisps popping up in a path behind it.

Donald ran a hand down his face. "Are you even listening to us?! We're leaving!"

Goofy put a finger to his chin. "Maybe they don't have ears, so they can't listen…"

The wisp in front sighed a few times, like it was trying to say something. The wisps behind it all sighed as well, creating a creepy kind of echo effect. Aila frowned. What could they want? She rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Maybe we should follow them…"

"You're exhausted," Donald pointed out again. "We need to get you to the ship."

Aila looked his way. "Maybe if I take an Ether? Do you have one?"

Donald grumbled disapprovingly but pulled a little bottle out of his pocket anyway, the blue liquid inside sloshing about as he handed it off to Aila. Aila took the bottle and downed the Ether, its effects helping rejuvenate her a little, but not by much. "Well?" Donald asked. Aila considered lying again, but apparently her hesitation gave her away. "Right, it didn't help."

"It did a _little_ ," Aila insisted. The wisps sighed again, several of the closest ones breaking from the trail they'd formed to fly at Aila and circle around her a few times before hurrying back into their formation into the trees. Aila frowned. "They _really_ want us to follow them, Donald…"

Donald sighed heavily. "FINE. But this is the last thing! I'm serious!" His stomach growled loudly.

Aila narrowed her eyes. "Oh, I thought you were worried about me, but maybe you just wanna get back to the ship so we can get some food…"

Donald crossed his arms with a huff. "It's _both_ reasons…"

Goofy chuckled while Aila smirked. Aila looked back to the wisps. "Okay, okay. We'll follow you. But I really hope you're leading us somewhere close by…"

The wisps all trembled a little, seeming relieved. And so the gang set off, picking up the pace after it became obvious that the wisps were more than a little restless. A cacophony of barking broke through the trees from up ahead.

"Dogs?" Aila asked as she and the boys ran.

"Look, I think I see something," Donald said. A faint orange glow was cutting through the trees up ahead, like the light of fire. Was something on fire?! Aila and the guys picked up the pace a little more, feeling the urgency of the unknown situation escalating just beyond the trees.

The sounds of some kind of commotion became more evident as they approached, the trees thinning to reveal the circle of stones that they always seemed to come back to on this world.

But this time, the circle was occupied.

Dozens of men had gathered, some holding torches, other with vicious dogs barking at their sides, anyone with free hands holding one of the many ropes that they had managed to trap a large animal with near one side of the circle. It took Aila a second, but then the realization made her heart drop: the animal was a bear. And not just any bear.

It was Queen Elinor.

"Oh no!" Goofy cried, he and Donald apparently realizing what was going on at the same moment Aila had. The three of them picked up the pace, making it to the edge of the stone circle just as an arrow came flying in from their left. The arrow struck the sword of a large, red haired man with one wooden leg who had been about to deal the killing blow to Elinor, the arrow knocking his weapon away with its accuracy and power.

Merida leapt off of Angus as he ran full speed into the circle, Merida's bow already knocked with another arrow as she landed on the grass. "Get BACK!" she demanded fiercely, approaching the men with her bow pulled taut, ready to let a second arrow fly at a moment's notice. "That's my mother!" She placed herself between the large man and Elinor, her glare fiery and determined.

"Are ya out of yer mind, lass?!" the man said, his eyes wide with disbelief and confusion. They seemed to know each other, and with the resemblance… was this Merida's father?

Merida glanced back fearfully at the tied up bear. "Mum? Are ya hurt?!"

The large man took advantage of Merida's distraction and shoved her out of the way, another nearby man immediately restraining her with a large spear held firmly across her chest. The large red haired man lifted his sword again and roared, clearly intent on killing the helpless bear before him.

"NO!" Aila shouted, she and the boys summoning their weapons and rushing in to try and stop the man. But Merida was faster than all of them, grabbing at the spear holding her and throwing the man wielding it onto his back, then using the spear to knock a sword from another man's hands and catching it just in time to rush at the red headed man and intercept his attack once again, their swords locking with an ear piercing _clang_!

"Merida!" the large man cried, once again looking shocked and confused by her actions. Merida didn't let up, slashing at the man and forcing him backwards. He stumbled and Merida immediately sliced off the bottom of his wooden leg, sending him off balance. He screamed and fell, his sword knocked from his grasp.

Aila, Donald, and Goofy slid into position next to Merida as she growled out dangerously, "I'll not let you kill my mother."

Aila blinked at Merida, impressed. Wow, maybe they _shouldn't_ have sent Merida away during that fight with Mor'du…

Three bear cubs leapt onto the large red haired man, eliciting fearful screams from him as they licked his bearded face.

"Boys!" Merida scolded, in a way a parent or older sibling might scold young children. Aila raised a brow. More bears that Merida knew…?

The bear cubs looked back at her and then obediently scurried off the man, who once again looked completely lost. " _Boys_?!" he repeated, disbelief thick in the word.

Aila didn't have any more time to question who the cubs could be, because right at that moment a massive figure lumbered into the stone circle, one yellow eye and one red eye trained on the gathering of people as saliva dripped from its crooked jaw.

"Mor'du," Merida gasped.

"Not again!" Donald groaned.

"Kill it!" the large man shouted.

A good amount of men rushed the bear, weapons raised as they attempted to take Mor'du down. Mor'du tore through their ranks like paper, knocking the men and their weapons away with ease.

"Come on!" Goofy called, and he, Donald, and Aila rushed into battle. Aila reached Mor'du first, ducking out of the way of one of his swipes and slashing at his side, sending a slice of Light from the head of her staff into the bear's matted fur. Her vision swam and she stumbled, only vaguely aware that her hit had landed, but hadn't done much damage. Something struck her from behind and she yelped as she fell face down into the grass, rolling onto her back just in time to avoid a claw of a Neoshadow that had been trying to stab her through the head. _Great_! More Heartless?! Her healing the world must not have had an effect on the Darkness Mor'du had within him.

Aila lifted her staff in time to catch the Neoshadow's claws again, the Heartless pressing onto her weapon with all its strength, its antennae draping across her neck and sending chills through her body. Her arms shook with strain, her fatigue showing. Yellow eyes gazed blankly down upon her, framed in darkness. She felt her vision swim again as the Neoshadow leaned in closer, its eyes traveling to her chest, like it could see her heart through her clothes and skin. Aila gritted her teeth and gathered the strength to kick upwards, catching the Neoshadow by surprise. It continued to hang on to her weapon even as Aila rolled to her knees, the two still stuck in a power struggle. With a yell, Aila stood and spun, swinging the Heartless around and finally dislodging it from her staff. It went flying, hitting one of the standing rocks with a painful sounding thud before sliding to the floor.

Aila stumbled to a stop, trying to catch her breath. She didn't get more than a second or two before a roar prompted her to turn and block, her weapon just barely intercepting Mor'du's massive paw as he came at her again, the bear apparently having shaken off Donald, Goofy, and anyone else that had charged alongside them, which seemed to include the large redheaded man, who was laying half conscious on the edge of the circle. Aila yelped as Mor'du finally managed to grab her with his massive paws, his speed unbelievable for an animal of his size. Aila gritted her teeth as Mor'du lifted her into the air like a ragdoll, her arms pinned to her side as he began to squeeze the breath out of her.

Two arrows sailed over her head and sank into Mor'du's neck, the bear only taking the slightest notice as he let up on squeezing Aila to try and figure out who was shooting at him. Aila managed to turn her head to see Merida, panicked but determined, reaching for another arrow. Mor'du threw Aila, sending her tumbling across the grass, her body striking one of the stones with an impact so jarring that it took what little breath she had left away. She gasped for air, her vision spinning as she rolled onto her back, the stone above her seeming to dance and sway as her sight cut in and out. Merida's scream made her turn her head, the blurry form of Mor'du pinning Merida to the ground making her heart drop. He was going to bite her head off…!

Aila struggled onto her side and held out her hand, summoning her weapon back to herself. "H-heal!" she choked out, feeling her fatigued mind fight against the spell, but she pushed herself to summon the green magic forth, to heal herself enough to try and save Merida. The spell did its work and her vision solidified just in time for her to see Elinor break free from the ropes holding her and charge into Mor'du, forcing the attacking bear off her daughter with vicious strikes of her own. Elinor and Mor'du roared back and forth at one another, Mor'du trying to get to a terrified Merida again only for Elinor to dart into his way, the queen standing up to her full bear height and roaring at him once again. She was shorter than Mor'du, who was absolutely massive, but that wasn't stopping her from protecting her daughter.

A Neoshadow, perhaps the one Aila had failed to kill earlier, slithered in shadow form through the grass, making a beeline for Elinor. Aila forced herself to her feet and bolted after it, stabbing the pointed end of her staff into it with a yell right as it popped out of the ground and willing her Light to flow into its body. The Neoshadow screamed and then faded away, this time taken out for good. Aila had to immediately leap out of the way of the two brawling bears, who were attacking one another so viciously that it seemed anyone who got in their way would be immediately torn apart. Aila spotted Donald and Goofy near the edge of the circle, Goofy downing a Potion while Donald cast a cure on himself. Another couple of Neoshadows popped up near her friends, their eyes trained on Elinor.

"Keep the Heartless away from them!" Aila called to Donald and Goofy, yet another Neoshadow blossoming to life on her right. Donald and Goofy glanced at her and nodded before rushing to take out the Heartless, Aila focusing on the one next to her while simultaneously continuing to dodge the fighting bears. She landed a few quick slashes on the Neoshadow and chanced a glance at Elinor. The queen was losing, Mor'du throwing her into one of the stones with startling ferocity. Aila breathed out a curse but then had to focus on her Neoshadow once again, the capable Heartless dropping into the ground and zipping to Aila's other side in an attempt to catch her off guard. Aila stumbled as she dodged, the Heartless gaining the upper hand and coming at her with slashes too fast to follow, Aila just barely able to block them all.

The ground shook and Aila glanced at the bears again to see that Elinor finally had an edge, having gotten Mor'du pinned up against one of the stones and slamming him against it over and over again. Aila summoned the last vestiges of her strength and swung her staff in a vertical slash down at the Heartless she was fighting, the Neoshadow finally screaming and fading into nothingness. Aila could hear her own heart beating in her ears, her body practically screaming at her to stop overexerting herself, but she forced herself to stay focused as she searched the area for Elinor. Mor'du had managed the throw her off, the queen and Merida scooting away on the floor as Mor'du lumbered toward them both, menace in his sunken eyes. Aila was trying to will herself to rush in and form some kind of shield when she noticed the stone behind Mor'du, the one Elinor had been slamming him into, begin to fall forward, a fissure having formed straight through its base during the fight. Mor'du ran at the queen and princess, unaware of any danger, right as the stone toppled all the way forward, crushing him with an earth shaking crash.

Any remaining Neoshadows screamed and vanished, the Darkness feeding them snuffed out. Aila took a few deep breaths, her eyes wide as she zeroed in on the tips of one of Mor'du's paws, the only piece of him that had avoided being flattened.

He was dead. There was no question.

The stone crushing Mor'du's body began to glow blue, an ethereal figure blossoming out of it, like it had been freed from a prison beneath the rubble. The figure was that of a bearded, armored man with broad shoulders and a prominent, pointed nose. He held himself like a king, though one that had much weighing on his shoulders. He surveyed the area and dipped his head briefly toward Merida and Elinor, as if in apology.

Something in Aila stirred and she dismissed her weapon, her footsteps falling upon the grass before she could figure out why she was closing the distance between herself and this ghostly figure. The ghost turned toward her, as if sensing her approach, his eyes widening ever so slightly before he once again dipped his head, this time seemingly in reverent understanding. Aila stopped before him and he knelt down, to more easily be able to look her in the eye. Emotions seemed to radiate from him, Aila's own heart echoing the regret and sorrow she somehow just knew he had held for so long. He reached out, and on instinct Aila pressed her palm into his, surprised that she could feel his hand.

Aila felt like she should say something, but what? Words seemed to spill out of her in a whisper, meant only for the man before her. "You've been trapped for a long time…" The man dipped his head again, somberly. A fresh wave of regret flooded into Aila. "Are you afraid?" The man lifted his gaze to meet hers and very subtly shook his head no.

He leaned closer, so his mouth was close to her ear, and clutched her hand against his chest. In a heavy whisper, he breathed out two simple words. "Thank you…"

Pain, as if she had been stabbed through the heart, erupted within Aila as the man's form suddenly flowed straight through her, blossoming out of her back in the form of a little blue wisp. Aila gasped and fell to her knees, hugging herself as her entire body began to shake.

"Aila!"

Donald and Goofy rushed to her side, holding her up as her body threatened to collapse. Tears were falling from her eyes, though she couldn't remember starting to cry. Emotions overwhelmed her: regret, anger, lust for power, jealousy, sorrow, all at once, all distinctly not her own. Sighs needled in her ear and she opened her eyes just enough to see that more wisps had gathered, one of them coming in close to her right ear.

"Thank you, Celina…" the wisp breathed, its voice hardly more than a whisper in the wind. The whisper echoed and repeated, as if the other wisps were joining in, though their words were so soft that Aila almost thought she might be imagining them.

Aila felt new tears spill over her cheeks. "I'm… I'm not…"

The wisps all vanished without another word.

Aila whimpered and pressed her face into Goofy's chest, trying to breathe. Her heart hurt so much. What had just happened? She should have stayed away from that ghost… Why had she even approached him at all?

A small commotion nearby made her turn her head, blinking tears away to clear her vision as she watched Merida drape her mother in some sort of blanket or tapestry. Merida stood back, smiling expectantly. The sun was rising. Was this blanket going to break Elinor's curse?

Nothing happened, and Merida's smile fell. Elinor let out a soft whimper, and then seemed to lose herself in a sort of daze. But she was still very much a bear. Whatever Merida had been hoping would happen… hadn't.

"No…" Merida breathed, tears brimming in her eyes. "I don't understand…" She fell to her knees, sobbing as she gazed up into the bear's muted eyes. "Oh, Mum… I'm sorry… This is all my fault, I did this to you… to us…" The bear sniffed Merida's face gently, like it didn't recognize her anymore, and Merida threw her arms around its neck, crying into its fur. "You've always been there for me… You've never given up on me… I just want you back… I want you back, Mummy… I love you."

Aila buried her face in Goofy's chest again, her own heart feeling too brittle for this scene. Her own mother's face flashed before her eyes, and a wave of almost crushing guilt enveloped her. She had been entertaining the idea that she might never see her parents ever again, and somehow she'd been feeling more and more _okay_ with that?! How could she even consider such a thing?! After having no one want her for so long, her mother and father had taken them all in without a second thought, given them _everything_ they could. What a horrible daughter she was. Her guilt and shame felt amplified by the other emotions that had invaded her heart, her body shaking like a leaf as she tried to hold herself together. Merida had given up her mother willingly, not realizing how lucky she had been. But was Aila any better? How many times had she even _thought_ about her mom and dad since leaving her world?

Merida gasped, and Aila thought she heard an older sounding woman laughing. Almost disbelieving, Aila peeked Merida's way to see that Elinor, beneath the tapestry, was no longer a bear – she was a woman again. "Mum…! You're back!" Merida breathed, tears still falling as she tried to process that the spell had been broken. Elinor laughed again and grabbed Merida, kissing her face a dozen times. "You changed!" Merida said, still seeming scared to believe it.

"Oh, darling," Elinor replied. "We both have."

"ELINOR!" the large redheaded man cried, rushing on his uneven legs to embrace the queen. He tenderly held her forehead against his before planting a passionate kiss on her, much to Merida's obvious discomfort. Yes, this man must be the king. Merida embraced him and he hugged her back, everyone teary eyed and happy to be together again.

Aila couldn't take it. "I want to leave," she whispered desperately.

Goofy placed a hand between her shoulder blades. "Aila?"

"Please, can we go," Aila breathed, her voice cracking slightly under the strain of all the emotions flooding her heart. It was great that Merida had her parents back together, that she had a happy ending. But right now it was only reminding Aila of what she had lost.

And of how selfishly willing she'd been to lose it.

Donald and Goofy helped Aila up and the three of them attempted to quietly make their leave, the three bear cubs having turned back into three redheaded toddler triplets and rushing to join the rest of their happy family only driving the knife in Aila's heart even deeper. She hadn't had contact with her siblings in weeks. Again, willingly so. What was she even doing?!

She stumbled out of the stone circle with Donald and Goofy supporting her, her vision blinking in and out as she tried to keep her steps steady.

"Hang on! Aila, Donald, Goofy!"

Aila gritting her teeth as she and the boys paused, all three of them glancing back to see Merida running after them, her face still tear stained, her family still rejoicing together behind her. Merida came to a stop before them, breathless. "Me mum, and me too… We can't let ya leave without thankin' ya."

"For what?" Aila mumbled. They had hardly helped. However the curse had been broken, Merida had done that on her own.

Merida rubbed her face with her sleeve, trying to wipe the remnants of tears away. "I would have never realized what had to be mended if you hadn't made us follow that map, so… so thank you. Really. And you helped us defeat Mor'du just now, too."

"The wisps led us to ya again," Goofy explained. He glanced nervously down at Aila, seeming unsure about the wisps now after they seemed to have maybe caused his friend some kind of pain or distress.

"I'm glad they did," Merida replied with a watery laugh. She looked at Aila, and her smile fell. "What exactly… did you do? You helped Mor'du become a wisp, I think…?"

Aila felt herself wavering and gripped Goofy's arm for support. "I don't know. I don't know…" She blinked rapidly a few times at Merida, unable to keep her own tears from falling in steady streams. "I'm glad everything worked out, but I can't… I can't stay here, I have to go…"

Merida took a step forward, seeming concerned now. "Are you hurt? We have medicine, we could—"

Aila pulled back, Merida's father letting out a guffaw as he played with his other children in the stone circle, Elinor laughing at his side. Her heart stung again. She shot Donald and Goofy a desperate look. " _Please_ , can we please leave?"

Donald nodded and looked at Merida. "We'll take care of her. I'm sorry, but we need to go. Tell the queen we're glad the curse was broken, and thank you for your help earlier, too."

Merida's brow was still furrowed, but she reluctantly agreed. "If you're sure…" She looked at Aila one more time. "Well… thank you, again. I hope… everythin' will be okay…"

Aila nodded and then turned, urging Donald and Goofy to start moving again. She would have liked to say a better goodbye to both Merida and Elinor, but she was highly concerned that if she said anything else, she would just fall apart. Her emotions felt like they were going completely haywire, only some of them her own. Donald and Goofy hurried her through the trees, neither of them sure as to what was happening, but intent on getting Aila back to the ship nonetheless.

They didn't make it far. After only a few minutes, Aila fell to her knees, unable to hold herself together any longer. She clasped her hands over her mouth and screamed into them, trying to rid herself of the emotions filling her to the breaking point.

"Aila!" Donald cried, alarmed. "I thought I saw you heal yourself near the end of the battle, so I didn't… Are you in pain?!"

Aila nodded shakily and then wrapped her arms around her middle, shaking. "My… heart… Why does it… _hurt_ so much?!"

A sudden feeling of déjà vu struck her, and she gasped as a memory of Celina played in her mind. After Sarabi had died, when Aila had next encountered Celina… hadn't the Spirit said the exact same thing?

" _Her soul…"_ she recalled Celina saying. _"It didn't used to… hurt…"_

Aila grasped at her head. Aila hadn't felt anything like this when Sarabi had died, though! Only Celina had been in pain. So if this was the same thing, why was _she_ feeling all this now?!

" _It hurts!"_

" _Her soul…?"_

" _YES!"_

Aila let out another sob, not sure what to do. Green light engulfed her, Donald having cast a Cura, but it hardly helped. She shook her head, her entire body continuing to shake, her breathing shallow and fast.

She felt Goofy's hand on her shoulder and struggled to look up at him. "Breathe, Aila," he instructed, looking more serious than usual. He demonstrated, taking a slow, deep breath. Aila tried to mimic him, her head spinning, perhaps from lack of oxygen. They breathed together a few more times, the action successfully stopping Aila from hyperventilating. "Aila, I'm gonna carry you, okay?" Goofy said.

Aila's fingers tightened in her hair. "I-I can… w-walk…"

"That's okay," Goofy insisted, shifting to her side. "The sooner you can rest, the better. Ready?"

Aila hesitated, but then shifted to allow Goofy to pick her up. She curled into him as he began to walk, Donald casting worried glances her way every few seconds. She wondered idly if they resented her for not being able to make it back to the ship on her own. Pathetic, right? The logical part of her pushed that thought away, her friends' actions and words painting a picture of purely concern and love.

But the anxiety raging within her held onto the thought for longer than maybe she normally would have, a fear that her friends would decide she wasn't worth the trouble needling its sharp little claws into the back of her mind. After all, no other friend in her life had ever stuck things out like this.

But Donald and Goofy, and Sora too, they were different. She knew deep in her heart that they were. Right…? She squinted up at the trees, broken shafts of sunlight filtering through the leaves. She was being irrational. Mor'du's soul had made her irrational… She closed her eyes, finally allowing her fatigue to pull her into sleep.

Surely, by the time she woke up, nothing would hurt anymore.

KHKHKHKHKH

So, just a heads up, this is likely the last update until I've played through Kingdom Hearts 3, so it'll probably be three weeks again. I hope that's okay! My apologies for being slow… these chapters take a long time to get right.

CAN YOU BELIEVE KINGDOM HEARTS 3 IS ONLY LIKE ONE WEEK AWAY OH MY GOD!

Please leave a review to let me know what you think so far! I love reading all your predictions and theories~ This chapter should spark a LOT of theories…

See you all in a few weeks! Thank you for reading!

~Fade


	7. Lea

I HAVE COMPLETED KINGDOM HEARTS 3.

Wow, can you even believe that we have the game?! Like… whoa. I'm still in shock. THE ENDING ALMOST KILLED ME. I won't spoil it (yet… I mean you'll definitely get the entire game spoiled if you continue reading this fanfiction other than a few things that I'm gonna change because well you'll see, obviously, so try and play it/watch it yourself soon!) but… wow.

Anyway, hi, I'm back! Sorry it took so long! I needed to rework some stuff after playing the game haha, but now I think I'm back on track with a shiny new outline to guide me~ So let's get back into it!

The title of this chapter probably has a lot of you very excited sooo let's get into it!

RIGHT AFTER you look at this BEAUTIFUL fanart by Bad Carrot Studios! It's so cool!

deviantart (dotcom) /brittanymichel/art/OC-KH-Character-Design-Aila-783957015

Thank you so much for the awesome art! And also, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, I love reading them all so much!

OKAY now we can start the chapter~

* * *

" _Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind._ _  
_ _"Pooh!" he whispered._ _  
_ _"Yes, Piglet?"_ _  
_ _"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you."_

― A.A. Milne, _The House at Pooh Corner_

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Lea**

When Aila's eyes opened again, it took a solid minute for her surroundings to come into focus, the blood pounding in her ears slowly subsiding as the sandy stone ceiling she was looking up at finally came into view.

"Oh, good, you're awake!"

Aila turned her head ever so slightly to see a familiar face smiling down at her – Flora, one of the good fairies. The yellow ribbon around her pointed red hat fluttered a little as she let out a relieved sigh. "Goodness, you gave us quite the scare, dear."

Confused, Aila slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, realizing that she had been placed on a small bed. This must be Yen Sid's tower if Flora was here, right? When had she made it back here?

Flora turned away for a moment to call to her sister. "Merry! Be a dear and bring some water, will you?"

Taking another moment to look around, recognition dawned on Aila – this was that room off of Yen Sid's study, where Sora first got his new outfit in Kingdom Hearts 2. The purple curtains decorating the upper walls meshed with her memory of the game, along with the intricate windows and various pieces of wooden furniture throughout the space. Wasn't this where Sora and Riku were taking their test, too…? It only took her a second to spot them, each on a bed of their own along the wall to her right, both boys seeming to be sleeping peacefully. Aila watched them breathing for a few moments, wondering how their test was going. They sure appeared relaxed on the outside. Jeez, Yen Sid was sure letting them off easy with a test where they just slept the whole time.

"Here you go!" Merryweather gushed, the blue clad fairy suddenly holding a glass of water right under Aila's nose. Aila jumped lightly in surprise but then gratefully took the glass, sipping slowly. Merry beamed. "Good to have you back with us!"

"Yes, Donald and Goofy were in quite the panic when they carried you in," Flora sighed. Her expression suddenly became rather stern. "And just how did you let yourself become so exhausted in the first place, young lady?" she asked, wagging a finger at Aila.

Aila blinked. "Exhausted?" She winced a little – her voice sounded kinda raspy. That was annoying.

"That's right!" Merry said, her smile still warm – she didn't seem as worried as Flora. "Master Yen Sid determined that was the case – you pushed yourself a bit too far, that's all. We knew a bit of a rest was all the doctor ordered, and so here you are!"

"You _must_ pay attention to your own limitations," Flora scolded lightly, though not unkindly. "You were able to recover a bit faster here at the tower, what with all the magic in the atmosphere. But in the future, you must promise to be more careful."

Aila played with her water glass sheepishly, clearing her throat a bit before answering. "R-right. I will. I'm sorry." She glanced over at Sora and Riku once again, unable to help herself.

"Don't worry, dear, they're both perfectly fine," Fauna, the green clad fairy, said, making her way over from closer to the boys' beds at last and continuing in her wispy voice, "We're keeping a close eye on them."

Aila smiled a little. "Can you tell how their test is going?"

Merry huffed. "No. I'm so curious… but we'll just have to wait and see."

"Master Yen Sid is keeping tabs on them, though," Flora assured. She held out a hand. "Now come on, let's get you up! I'm sure everyone will be quite relieved to see you up and about."

The nearly empty water glass suddenly floated out of Aila's grasp, Merry humming happily as she caught it and took it away. Aila accepted Flora's hand and allowed her and Fauna to help her stand, feeling somewhat woozy, but otherwise fine. She was having a little bit of trouble remembering when she'd fallen asleep in the first place… She must have passed out. That… was probably not great. No wonder Flora was scolding her.

"There," Fauna said with a smile, she and Flora releasing Aila once they were sure the girl was stable. "Do you feel good?"

"I… think so," Aila replied, not really sure if 'good' was the correct word, but it was close enough. "Thank you. Sorry again…"

"Oh, no need to apologize," Flora sighed with a shake of her head. "Just promise you'll be more careful in the future, hm?"

Aila nodded. "I promise. Again."

The fairies nodded, Flora gesturing to the door. "Everyone else should still be in the study. We'll let you all know as soon as Sora and Riku wake up."

Aila smiled and thanked them one more time before heading for the large, ornate double doors. She hesitated for just a second before slowly opening the left door, a little worried she might be barging in on Yen Sid and Mickey having an important meeting or something. As quietly as she could, she slipped into the study and closed the door behind her.

"AILA!"

Aila turned to face the room fully just as two bodies collided with hers, her knees nearly buckling under the sudden pressure. Thankfully, Goofy was able to hold her and Donald up, preventing them all from falling into a tangled mess.

"Hi," Aila choked out, Donald and Goofy's arms kind of constricting her airflow. The two released her after a moment and she took a deep breath, letting oxygen flow back into her lungs.

"We're so glad you're awake!" Goofy said, his eyes filled with concern as he looked her over, as if checking to make sure she wasn't injured.

"Yeah," Donald sighed. Aila internally cringed and mentally counted down, waiting for her friend's relief to morph into anger. His brow began to furrow, and right on cue… "YOU NEED TO BE MORE CAREFUL!"

Aila scratched her cheek sheepishly. "Yeahhhh so I've heard. Uh, what happened exactly?"

"You don't remember?!" Donald asked, his feathers ruffling as he tried to keep his anger at least a little bit under control. "You passed out, that's what happened!"

"Ah, that's what I thought…" Aila replied. She rubbed her arm and smiled sweetly at Donald. "Oops?"

"You seem okay now, though," Mickey said, and Aila realized that both he and Master Yen Sid were standing at the other end of the room. Mickey was smiling, but Yen Sid looked a bit more serious. A nugget of apprehension needled its way into Aila's gut – she really hoped he wasn't mad at her…

Aila locked her hands behind her back and looked away nervously. "Uh, yeah, the Good Fairies said now that I rested I should be okay…"

Master Yen Sid swept forward and reclaimed his seat behind his desk before fixing Aila with a serious stare. "You need to be more careful."

Aila hung her head. "I know, I already promised the Good Fairies I would be…"

"Promise us too!" Donald demanded.

"That'll be my third promise about the exact same thing…"

"So?!"

"Fine, fine, I promise."

"But, uh, I'm not really sure what happened," Goofy said with a frown. "I can't remember you ever passin' out like that before. We didn't even really do much fightin' on that world. Uh, compared to others we've been to, I mean."

Aila frowned up at him. "Yeah. I mean I guess _sometimes_ I used to feel a little tired if I pushed myself? But…" Realization dawned on her, and her eyes widened before she hung her head again. "…Oh. Actually… Celina always used to warn me if I was doing too much… She kinda mentioned a few times that if I kept using my powers I might pass out… So… I guess maybe that happened."

Yen Sid nodded. "That clarifies things. Now that Celina is unable to communicate with you, you need to learn those limitations yourself."

Aila sighed. Another reason to wish Celina would say something. So, she hadn't even spoken up when Aila had apparently pushed herself past her limits, huh…? If that was the case, then… would _anything_ be enough to get her attention…?

"Donald and Goofy tell me that you were able to successfully heal that world."

Aila looked up again and nodded at Master Yen Sid. "I… I think so, anyway?"

"Sure looked like it to me!" Goofy said, he and Donald making their way toward the center of the room in order to better talk to Yen Sid, Aila hurrying to follow them.

"Yep! Mission accomplished!" Donald agreed, puffing out his chest proudly.

"Very good," Yen Sid replied, seeming pleased. "In that case, Aila, would you be willing to do the same for other worlds you might come across that are in need of healing?"

"Of course," Aila replied immediately.

Donald grumbled lightly. "Hopefully the magic pockets will be easier to find in the future."

"Master Yen Sid," Mickey grumbled, shooting Yen Sid a frustrated look. "Didn't we agree that Aila should only use her powers like that in cases of emergency…?"

Yen Sid met Mickey's gaze. "Yes, my friend. But should such emergencies arise, it would do well to know that she's willing to assist."

"Hm… It sounds a little like you want her to go looking for trouble."

"Trouble will likely find her on its own as long as she continues visiting different worlds. Besides, she was able to complete her task without issue."

"She was unconscious!"

"That seems unrelated to healing the world, rather it was a more general oversight."

"But still…!"

Aila felt a bit like a little kid watching two parents argue. She glanced between them nervously, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she felt the tension rise a little, from Mickey in particular. "U-um," she stuttered, unable to keep quiet. "I promise I won't be so reckless next time…! If Celina won't be able to warn me when I'm pushing too far, I, um, I'll work harder to train and… uh… Please don't fight… I can do this, I want to help people."

Master Yen Sid smirked, glancing at Mickey again. "There, you see?"

Mickey sighed, but then smiled lightly at Aila. "I know, Aila. No one's fighting. Sorry about that. And… it's your decision. Just, listen… you need to promise to tell someone if you're having trouble, especially while Celina isn't able to help you out. Okay?"

'I sure am making a lot of promises today,' Aila thought to herself before replying out loud, "Yeah, I will."

Mickey nodded. "Okay… You three didn't run into anyone suspicious on that world, did you?"

Aila, Donald, and Goofy shared a befuddled look. "Suspicious?" Goofy repeated.

"That witch was a little suspicious," Donald muttered, crossing his arms with a huff. Aila saw one of Master Yen Sid's eyebrows raise ever so slightly, and she could have sworn his lips twitched into a smirk for just a moment. But then she blinked, and his expression had returned to neutral. Maybe she had imagined it.

Aila shrugged. "We didn't really talk to that many people. Really just Merida and her mom. And the old lady who gave us the map for like five seconds."

"There were a lot of people there at the end, but uh, yeah, we didn't really interact with any of 'em," Goofy agreed.

"Well, and Mor'du," Donald mumbled.

Aila quirked a brow. "The bear?"

Donald and Goofy immediately snapped their heads toward her, both of them looking a little alarmed. "Yeah," Donald replied slowly. "But it turned out he wasn't really a bear… You remember that, don't you?"

Aila thought for a few seconds. "Ohh, right, he probably had the same spell put on him as Merida's mom, and we found that carving in that old castle…"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to meet Goofy's gaze, her friend looking a little hesitant. "Aila, what's the last thing you remember before wakin' up here?"

Aila tilted her head, not sure why her friends suddenly seemed so worried. She wracked her brain. "Uh… well we found the magic pocket and… then we had to climb up a really high cliff and it took forever… ummm and then Elinor was in trouble and we fought Mor'du… I think… wait…" Aila paused, realizing that her memory was actually _really_ fuzzy despite the fact that she knew all of these things had literally just happened. A memory of intense emotion struck her, but she couldn't pinpoint from when or why she was remembering it. She frowned deeply.

"Mor'du turned into a wisp," Donald offered gently.

Goofy nodded. "It seemed like you helped him."

Aila blinked, her gaze falling to the ground. "I did…?" Very hazy images of a ghostly man flashed in her mind's eye, of him taking her hand, of her mouth moving as she spoke to him, but she couldn't quite recall the words she'd said. A dull sadness pulsed within her and she put a hand over her heart. "I… _almost_ remember, but… It feels kinda like I watched a movie of it a long time ago or something…" Her fingers tightened over the fabric of her shirt, a pinprick of fear sparking in her chest. How could she be having trouble remembering something that had only just happened?

"Perhaps you are still tired," Yen Sid offered at last. "Do not worry yourself too much."

Aila met his gaze and nodded hesitantly. "…Maybe."

If anyone had wanted to discuss the topic of Aila's foggy memories any more than that they didn't get the chance. At that moment a large black bird flew into the study through one of Yen Sid's open windows, a rolled up piece of parchment clutched in its sharp talons and a golden tiara held in its beak.

"Look, it's a raven!" Goofy said. Everyone's attention immediately locked onto the bird as it hovered directly above Yen Sid's desk.

"Uh oh!" Mickey breathed. Aila gasped, knowing immediately who this bird belonged to – but what the heck was it doing here?!

"That raven is Maleficent's," Master Yen Sid confirmed, his eyes narrowing suspiciously as he watched the bird hover before him.

"What's it got?" Donald asked, trying to get a better look at the things the raven was carrying.

The raven promptly dropped the paper and the tiara onto Yen Sid's desk before taking its leave, Yen Sid seeming a little surprised that it wasn't sticking around. They all shuffled closer to the desk, everyone trying to see what Maleficent's bird had brought them. Aila's eyes widened as she was finally able to see the tiara more clearly; it had three rubies inlaid in its center, two smaller ones and one larger one, arranged in a very recognizable pattern…

"Why, that's Minnie's," Mickey said, his voice wavering slightly in what Aila could only assume was rising panic. Aila was starting to panic too. Why would Maleficent's raven have Minnie's crown?! Mickey reached for the parchment immediately, unrolling it and reading it as quickly as he could. His brows furrowed and his fingers tightened around the paper, a gasp escaping him as he read. Aila bit her lip. This was clearly not good.

"Gwarsh, what's it say?" Goofy asked, worried as well.

Mickey placed the paper back on the desk and took a moment to gather himself before replying. "It's from Maleficent. She's kidnapped Minnie."

"She took Queen Minnie?!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed in unison, Aila placing both hands over her mouth as she gasped in shock. No way! What?!

Mickey continued gravely. "The letter says for me to return to Disney Castle… or else."

Yen Sid nodded seriously. "Mickey, there is no time to waste."

Mickey nodded back. "Okay." He turned to Donald, Goofy, and Aila. "You fellas stay here."

Uh, yeah right. Donald and Goofy immediately stood to attention, saluting their King. "King Mickey, we're going with you!" they said as one.

Aila quickly saluted as well. "Obviously!"

Mickey looked a little shocked for a moment, and then touched. "Gosh… I guess you're right, pals. We friends need to stick together." He turned to Yen Sid. "Master Yen Sid, we'll be back!"

Yen Sid nodded, and then the rest of them booked it down the stairs to the Gummi ship, Donald hurriedly bringing Sora's seat back out in the cockpit for the King to use.

"How far are we?" Aila asked breathlessly as the ship powered up.

"About—" the King began, only to cock his head in slight confusion as he opened the ship's guidance. "Gosh, suddenly we're real close."

Both of Aila's brows rose beneath her bangs. "Wait, did Yen Sid just… move his entire world closer to yours for us?"

"Guess so," Mickey said as he started the ship forward, his mouth pressed into a worried line. "Remind me to thank him later…"

Aila shared a look with Goofy. "What the heck, just how powerful is Master Yen Sid?!" she whispered. Goofy just smiled a little in reply.

They made it to Disney Castle in record time, Mickey and Donald parking the ship with practiced ease in the Gummi hangar.

"Your Majesty?!" Chip gasped as the group exited the ship, he and Dale looking positively shocked by the sudden arrival.

Mickey rushed up to them. "Chip, Dale, have you seen Minnie today?"

The chipmunks exchanged a worried glance with one another. "Not since this mornin'," Dale replied. He frowned up at his king. "Is somethin' wrong?"

"Maleficent—!" Donald began, but Mickey held up a hand to stop him.

"Everything will be fine," Mickey assured, putting on a smile for the chipmunk brothers. "Stay here and keep an eye on the ships – we'll be back."

Chip and Dale did not look satisfied with that response, the worry clear in their little eyes. "If you say so," Chip replied reluctantly. "But let us know if there's anything we can do to help!"

Mickey nodded. "Thanks, fellas." And then he was bolting up the stairs, Aila, Donald, and Goofy rushing to follow.

The group bolted through the garden and into the castle halls, Mickey leading the charge. Aila was about to ask if he knew where they should start looking when the King suddenly skidded to a halt, Aila, Donald, and Goofy forced to do the same right behind him.

Aila gasped, blinking as she noticed the raven standing patiently before the door to the library at the end of the hall. It eyed them knowingly before letting out a "caw" and taking flight. For a second Aila thought maybe they should follow the bird, but Mickey seemed to be totally ignoring it, his eyes glued to the door that the bird had been guarding. The King dashed forward, the rest of their group following as he threw open the library doors.

Aila's heart nearly stopped once she was able to see inside the room. Maleficent herself stood at the opposite end, a triumphant smirk pulling at her lips as she eyed their group. Next to her was her faithful servant Pete, his massive hands clamped tightly around Queen Minnie, who was very clearly trapped within his grasp. One of his hands covered her mouth, leaving her unable to speak, but her eyes locked with Mickey's all the same, a mixture of fear and anger visible behind her lashes.

"Ah, good. You didn't come alone. How predictable you are," Maleficent drawled, smiling toothily at Mickey. "Please, come in. Do shut the door; we wouldn't want to cause a panic, would we?"

Mickey balled a fist but did as she said, Aila, Donald, and Goofy following him into the room a little further and letting the door click shut behind them. Aila met the Queen's gaze, Minnie's stare so intense that Aila could do little _but_ look her way. Emotion flickered in Minnie's irises and it looked like she was attempting to struggle, to say something, but Pete's grip was just too tight. Still, Minnie continued to stare right at Aila, her eyes wide with panic. Aila briefly wondered why she was looking at her, specifically – shouldn't she be focused on Mickey instead? Or Donald or Goofy? She'd known them much longer…

"Pete, you big thug!" Donald shouted, glaring daggers at the villain holding his queen.

Pete chuckled. "'Thug' works for me. We all got a role to play, right?"

Goofy frowned. "Gwarsh, at least he's honest, in a dishonest way."

Maleficent glared at Pete, making him jump as she snapped, "Silence! No underling of mine shall be insulted so." Pete put one of his large hands over his own mouth, as if to try and prevent himself from saying anything else that might upset his boss. Minnie was unfortunately still held tight. Maleficent faced Mickey fully again, her annoyed expression smoothing into one of cool confidence once again. "I have great plans for dear Pete and for all the worlds, once I have taken them for my own."

Mickey's glare only deepened. "Then I've got bad news for you – that day's never gonna come."

Maleficent snorted. "Perhaps you should take a few moments to reconsider. Or does the Queen's life mean nothing to you at all?"

Minnie struggled again, and this time, with only one hand holding her down, she was at least able to get her mouth free. She took a deep breath. "Mickey! Don't you listen to her! You can't let Maleficent have her—!" Pete cut her off with his other hand, squeezing the Queen in a way that made her trail off in a muffled whimper. Anger boiled in Aila's veins at the sight of Minnie in pain, an intense need to get the Queen to safety bubbling up within her.

"No! Minnie!" Mickey called, his confident mask breaking ever so slightly. He balled his fists again. "All right, Maleficent. Tell us what you want."

Maleficent grinned, looking lazily up at the ceiling. "Let me see… Shall I begin with this world? I much preferred it in its darker, more ominous permutation."

Pete grinned as well. "You said it! This place needs some lights-out time!" He looked at Aila and sneered. "How's that sound to you, little lady?"

Aila fell into a battle stance in response, growling lightly at being singled out by Pete. Just what was he up to?

"You're lying, Maleficent," Mickey retorted, pulling everyone's attention back to himself. "Not even you would go through this much trouble just for that." His eyes narrowed. "What is it you're really after?"

Maleficent sighed, seeming a little annoyed. But in the blink of an eye that same frustratingly sly smile returned to her face. "Very perceptive. I presume you are familiar with Xehanort, the man who led me to discover worlds outside of my own?"

Everyone gasped, Aila's eyes widening. What! Were they working together?! "You know him?!" Mickey demanded, clearly alarmed.

Maleficent smirked. "As do you, I see. Yes, he shared everything with me – how to go about winning a heart over to the Darkness, and, most gloriously, about the seven hearts of pure light! The ones that would grant me the power I need to conquer all worlds!" She sighed again. "However, the worlds were too complex, too much for even me to contain. It seemed I had miscalculated." She grinned. "Then it came to me – of course! You had had the tool I needed by your side all this time." She pointed a spindly finger, Aila's heart skipping a beat as she realized that it was aimed right at her. "That girl is a Spirit, capable of taming worlds in both the Dark _and_ the Light. In fact, you have more than one Spirit, don't you? It only seems fair for me to take one for myself." 'Take one'? What, like they were just tools to be used by one side or another? Aila was too startled to feel fully offended, but a spark of indignation lit nonetheless.

Donald and Goofy immediately summoned their weapons. "There's no way we'd let you take Aila!" Donald shouted fiercely.

Aila snapped herself out of her shock and put on her best glare. "I'd never help you anyway! You're crazy!"

"Oh, I think you will," Maleficent sneered. She stroked her staff idly. "After all, you and His Highness have the same weakness – your hearts bleed too easily. You will help me in order to keep your friends safe."

Minnie shook her head as best she could, locking eyes with Aila again, as if trying to relay a message to her through sheer desperation alone. Aila hesitated. Would Maleficent hurt Minnie if she didn't agree to help her right now…? That was low!

"Leave Aila out of this," Mickey growled, his voice much more dangerous sounding than Aila was used to, so much so that it took her by surprise. "She's just a child."

Maleficent met his gaze. "You know as well as I do that she is much more than that." Her eyes fell on Aila again, a fierceness in her gaze that made Aila's insides freeze. "Come here, girl."

"No!" Mickey shouted, holding out his arm as if to prevent Aila from doing just that, at the same time that Minnie frantically tried to shake her head again. Mickey glanced at Aila, her heart pounding frantically as their eyes met. "We won't let her take you, Aila. I promise. Don't do what she says."

Maleficent rolled her eyes. "Oh please. You're only wasting everyone's time." She put on what Aila assumed was meant to be a kind smile, but it was maybe the creepiest thing ever. "Aila, my dear, you do know that it is a Spirit's _duty_ to keep the worlds in line, don't you? Why then, the more ornery ones might need someone new in charge – that's where I come in. Together, we can go about taming other worlds in our own manner." She looked between Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, smirking once again. "You do have the 'data' for all the worlds, do you not? And now you will hand that over to me as well."

Aila's eyes widened. Data? No way! That weird story Donald and Goofy had told her about Jiminy's journal?! That couldn't be what Maleficent was talking about, could it? The rest of the group looked just as stunned, Mickey himself pulling back in surprise as he let out a, "What do ya mean?!"

Pete huffed. "Don't you bozos pretend you don't remember. Me and Maleficent was trapped inside it. Now cough it up!"

"Why do you want the data?" Mickey asked, seeming totally confused now.

"I'm afraid that is no concern of yours," Maleficent replied.

Mickey's shoulders shook, his fists balling and light sparkling along his right hand, like he was trying very hard not to call his Keyblade to himself.

"Ah-ah-ah! Wouldn't want her Royal Minnie Mousiness to get a boo-boo, now would we?" Pete taunted, tightening his grip on Minnie once again. Minnie shut her eyes, but didn't whimper this time, like she was trying very hard not to let on if she was in any pain. Donald and Goofy immediately dismissed their weapons, fear in their eyes despite Minnie's resilience, both of them seeming at a loss.

Aila too was feeling totally helpless. Watching Pete tighten his grip on Minnie like that… a flash of Port Royal hit her like a truck, of Luxord squeezing her broken hands as he held her before him and negotiated with her friends. Her breath caught in her throat as panic erupted within her. "STOP!" she shouted, her voice cracking and giving away the fear that was spiking inside her. The bright walls of the library gave way to the dark docks of the port in her memory, Pete momentarily blurring into the Organization member she hated the most. She stumbled forward, Goofy catching her around the shoulders and holding her back. "Stop it, stop!" The lights in the library flickered, as if affected by her emotion.

Pete did stop, his hold loosening ever so slightly and allowing Minnie to relax. Pete frowned, glancing around at the flickering lights with a bit of fearful concern. "Jeez, I wasn't hurting her _that_ much…"

Aila felt Donald's hand on her arm, both him and Goofy holding her protectively as her heart continued to race. She had thought she'd gotten a handle on her flashbacks, but right now her reality continued to flicker back and forth between the library and the Port, her breathing shallow and rushed as sweat pooled at her brow. This situation was too familiar. She couldn't let Minnie continue to feel what she had! Would they release her if she agreed to go with them?! Then… she had to…!

Minnie had opened her eyes again, her gaze locked with Mickey's so intensely that it almost looked like they were having some kind of silent conversation. After a few moments of absolute stillness, Mickey steeled himself and looked directly at Maleficent again. "For the last time. You are _not_ taking Aila, and you're not taking the data. Not today, and not ever."

"Mick—!" Aila began to protest, her voice breathy and panicked, but Mickey held up a hand to cut her off.

Mickey glanced her way. "I just made a promise to you, Aila. And I don't intend to break it."

Aila glanced at Minnie, terrified, but was surprised to find that Minnie didn't look scared at all. No, she looked determined, confident, despite being held so tightly in Pete's grasp. Was she… really not in pain? Was Aila projecting a more dire situation onto this one?

Maleficent frowned deeply and took a few steps forward. "I see you have failed to recognize the futility of your situation. Very well…" She stopped, and then pulled her staff back, the ball on the top of it glowing green. " _Face your doom_!"

Green fire shot at their group, so quickly that no one even had time to summon any weapons. Aila panicked, trying to untangle herself from her friends so she might make a shield with her Light, but before she could a weapon came flying in from her right, intercepting the green fire and dispersing it before slamming into the ground right in front of their group. Aila blinked, and then she blinked again. That weapon. It… couldn't be.

It was one of Axel's chakrams.

A second chakram flew over their heads, circling toward Pete and forcing him to pull back with a yelp of alarm. Pete released Minnie in his panic and the Queen immediately jumped into action. "LIGHT!" she cried, summoning a pillar of light to her and forcing both Pete and Maleficent to move away, Pete falling flat on his back in his clumsy haste.

Minnie and Mickey dashed toward one another, taking each other's hands as soon as they had closed the distance. "Oh, Mickey!" Minnie cried.

"Minnie!" Mickey replied, sounding all kinds of relieved.

"Your Majesty!" Donald and Goofy cried, rushing to Minnie as well to make sure she was unharmed.

Aila didn't move, just continued staring dumbly at the weapon embedded in the tile before her. No way… It just… couldn't be… She had to still be seeing things that weren't real, like the port… She blinked, hard, but the weapon didn't fade.

The shing of weapons being summoned made her tear her eyes away from the chakram, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy having fallen into battle stances, Minnie safely behind them. "Maleficent… you lose," Mickey announced fiercely.

Maleficent growled, obviously unhappy. Pete sat up, looking very nervous. "Say, uh, milady, I think the pipsqueak's right. We better hit the road!"

Maleficent's glare narrowed. "I now know that what I seek lies within these walls." Her eyes flashed dangerously as she looked directly at Mickey. "Trust that I will eliminate you in good time. And you, Spirit," her gaze shifted to Aila as she continued darkly, "you _will_ assist me, one way or another. You shouldn't squander your time; if you aren't careful, yet another of your lifetimes will mean absolutely nothing. _Child_." She turned and began stalking toward the back corner of the room without another word, a portal of Darkness appearing before her.

"Hey! Wait for me! Maleficent?" Pete called, struggling to his feet. Maleficent didn't look back, nor did she slow, and he was forced to run into the portal after her at full speed before it closed. "Waaaait!"

The portal vanished, along with the two villains, and Mickey dismissed his Keyblade. Even with Maleficent's portal gone, a distinctive swirl of Darkness needled in Aila's ear. She glanced quickly to her right to see a very small window of Darkness that she hadn't noticed before. After a moment, the window grew into a full sized portal, and someone began to step out of it.

Someone who looked exactly like Axel.

Aila felt like she was in shock, her jaw totally slack as Axel walked confidently toward the chakram imbedded in the floor, the heels of his Organization boots clicking on the tiles with every step.

"You used the Darkness to get here? That was reckless!" Mickey scolded as Axel continued forward, Aila taking a few hurried steps backward as this person who looked like her dead friend got closer. Goofy still had his shield up, and Donald's beak was hanging wide open. It seemed neither of them knew what to make of this either. Mickey's expression softened as Axel reached his weapon, the King continuing as Axel wrapped his fingers around the chakram. "But gosh, I didn't expect you to save us… Axel."

Axel pulled the chakram out of the floor and draped it lazily over his shoulder, an amused smirk on his face. A face that, Aila now realized, didn't look exactly right: the black upside down teardrop tattoos that had been under his eyes were gone. A small detail, but significant nonetheless. Aila's brain still hadn't given up on the idea that she was hallucinating. This was impossible. Maybe she was still sleeping at the tower. Yes, a dream made way more sense than this being… real…

Finally, the man who looked like her friend spoke. "Axel didn't," he said, his familiar voice making Aila's eyes widen and her breathing hitch. "My name is Lea." He put a finger to his temple and grinned. "Got it memorized?"

In the next breath Aila was running. She had no idea when she'd decided to start running, but there she was, hurtling herself into this man so forcefully that he gasped and stumbled, dropping his chakram with a _clang_! Her arms wrapped around him, her face burying into his Organization coat as she held him too tightly. He felt the same, except… No. No, he didn't. He wasn't cold. He was _warm_ beneath his coat. A heartbeat pounded beneath the fabric, sputtering slightly before evening out to something more steady and sure. Strong. Aila's arms tightened even more, her eyes shut tight. She was half worried that if she opened them, she might wake up. "You're… you're alive…"

"…Yeah," Axel replied, sounding slightly awkward. Uncomfortable. His arms very slowly wrapped around her, but they were only barely touching her, like he wasn't sure if he should actually hug her back. He withdrew them again a second later. "Kid, you mind letting go? I'm suffocating here."

Aila felt herself shiver, a million things running through her head. She'd dreamed this so many times. She had dreamed of Axel and Demyx being alive again, of an alternate life in which she had managed to save them, and they'd found their hearts, and everything was fine. But this time… it had never felt this real before. So… could this really be…?

A hand started tapping somewhat frantically on her shoulder. "Seriously, urk, I can't breathe, hey!"

Aila untwined her arms from his body, carefully opening her eyes and taking a step away to better look up at his face. Her own face felt wet, but she ignored that for now. He wasn't disappearing. He was still here…

Axel took a deep breath, one hand over his chest. "Jeez, you're still the worst at hellos, you know that?"

Anger suddenly flared up within Aila. Her eyes flashed and she held out a hand, white Light erupting from her fingertips and slamming Axel back into the library wall. She heard the other people in the room let out sympathetic 'ooh's at the impact.

Axel groaned, stumbling away from the wall a couple steps and rubbing his head. "What was that for?!"

Aila glared, hard. "All you had to do was not follow us!"

Axel rolled his neck. "Okay, here we go, you're gonna bring this up already…?"

"It was the easiest thing EVER! Are you dumb?!"

Axel put a hand on his hip and held up a finger. "Okay, first of all, you're yelling at the wrong guy. You want Axel, I told you, I'm Lea. _Lea_."

Aila huffed. "You said I'm 'still' bad at hellos. So you remember everything, don't you?! Don't pretend you're someone else just to get out of this!"

Axel pursed his lips. "Just cause I remember something doesn't mean I'm the same person."

"Good, because that person was an idiot!"

"What! I saved your life!"

"I thought you said you weren't Axel?!"

"I'm not! But, I, ah you know what I meant! He saved you!"

"We were fine!"

"Not from where I was standing!"

"No, you just refuse to listen to _anyone_ , right?! Even if it would save your own life?!"

Axel opened his mouth to retort, his green eyes narrowed in frustration, but then, to Aila's confusion, he just ran a hand down his face and started laughing.

Aila stomped a foot. "Stop it! Why are you always laughing when I'm upset?!"

Axel grinned. "Sorry, sorry, you being so angry is just funny I guess. Besides, I'm not always anything. You and I, _Lea_ , just met. And it's a terrible first impression, let me tell you."

Aila puffed out her cheeks, feeling super ticked off. "You are so…!" She put her head in her hands, evidence of just how many tears had been spilling down her face soaking into her gloves. Her shoulders shook, and just like that her anger evaporated just as quickly as it had come, deep confusion and hesitant hope replacing it. "You're alive…" she breathed, looking up again.

Axel's smile softened. "…Yeah. Hi. I'm sorry. You're right, I… I remember everything. I'm still… yeah. But I'm also not. It's hard to explain but… Are we done yelling now?"

Aila walked up to Axel, who looked a little worried at her approach. She paused before him for a few moments before pressing her forehead into him. "…Yes. We're done yelling. As long as you don't die anymore."

Axel hesitated for a moment before placing one hand on her shoulder. He squeezed gently. "I'll try not to."

"You sure look like Axel," Goofy said after a few moments, sounding suspicious. "What'd you say yer name was again?"

Axel sighed. " _Lea_. Honestly it's three letters, it's not hard to remember."

"Whatever you say, Axel," Donald replied cheekily.

Aila felt Axel – wait, no, it was Lea now, she needed to start thinking with a new name, apparently – tense a little, clearly annoyed, and she giggled. Lea tightened his grip on her shoulder and pushed her an arm's length away. "Ha ha, okay, that's enough. Maybe I shouldn't have saved you all, huh? So what was this all about anyway, have you been going around making witches angry? That's not a good hobby."

That comment jogged Aila's memory as to why they were all at the castle in the first place and she immediately turned to the Queen. "Ah! Right! Are you okay?!"

Minnie closed the distance between herself and Aila and took the younger girl's hands. "Yes, I'm fine. Are you all right, Aila?"

Aila clenched her jaw as she recalled the way she'd reacted, as well as the reasons for her reacting so intensely. "…If you're fine then I'm fine."

Minnie frowned. "Aila…"

"…I would have gone with them for you," Aila insisted softly, looking into Minnie's eyes imploringly. "I would have gone."

"I know you would have, but I am so much happier that you didn't," Minnie said seriously, squeezing Aila's hands. "I'm fine. I would have been fine. They were bluffing, Aila."

Aila pulled back. "You can't know that."

"They were," Mickey said, stepping forward. "They waited for us here. They wanted to negotiate. Harming Minnie would have caused this entire world to rise up and fight against them, and they don't want that. They just wanted to get us here – Maleficent was banking on us falling for her bluff."

Minnie rolled her eyes. "I don't know if this _entire_ world would rise up…"

Mickey smiled. "Sure they would. You're beloved, and fair, and the most amazing queen anyone could wish for. There's not a person on this world, or any world, who would say otherwise."

Minnie blushed. "Mickey…"

Goofy and Donald saluted. "He's right, yer Majesty!" Goofy said with a smile, Donald nodding at his side.

Aila frowned. "But… you knew they were bluffing the whole time…?"

Mickey nodded. "But we couldn't let 'em know we knew…" He winked. "We don't want 'em to change their tactics to anything more sinister in the future, right? Best to let 'em think they almost had us."

Aila looked down at the floor, feeling suddenly embarrassed. So she'd totally flown off the handle over nothing? They really weren't going to hurt Minnie after all? "Oh… Sorry…"

Someone hugged her from the side and she looked up to see Goofy smiling down at her. "Yer memories aren't so nice to ya today, huh?"

Aila blinked, feeling moisture pool behind her lashes. The question was their code for her having flashbacks – so he knew exactly what she had been seeing to make her react so intensely? Donald too then, probably. Well, she supposed it had probably been obvious… Aila looked away and nodded lightly.

Goofy's hug tightened a little. "Don't you worry, yer friends are right here!"

Donald waddled up to Aila and poked her hard in the arm. "Yeah, so don't go handing yourself over to bad guys so easily, sheesh!"

Aila felt her heart warm, feeling safe with them both there. She felt kinda stupid for overreacting, but it looked like they understood. How had she managed to make friends as amazing as them…?

"Still," Mickey said, sounding rather serious. Aila glanced at him. He was frowning. "I didn't realize that Maleficent knew you were a Spirit, Aila… did you?"

Aila furrowed her brow. "Ah… well, when Danny and I fought on The World That Never Was – um, sorry, the Organization's world – she seemed to notice… We ended up in the room she and Pete were still fighting off Heartless in at one point…"

Mickey crossed his arms, thinking hard. "Gotcha. Does anyone else know?"

Aila blinked. "Well… I didn't know it was a secret… I guess, um…" Aila tried to recall when Celina had come up in her previous journey. "The Restoration Committee knows, and anyone associated with them… Hades knows, Hercules, Meg… Ursula? But I think she's dead. Uh… Santa? Mulan's family? I don't know… I guess a good amount of people know at this point." Mickey sighed, his ears drooping a little. Aila frowned. "…Am I in trouble?"

Mickey shook his head. "No, Aila. We didn't tell you not to tell anyone."

"But… should I not have been…?"

Mickey shared a glance with Minnie. Both looked worried. Mickey finally looked at Aila again. "…Let's go talk to Master Yen Sid, okay?"

"Yeah, good," Lea said, getting everyone's attention again. "I was gonna say, I need to speak to him too."

Mickey cocked his head curiously. "About…?"

Lea smirked and put a finger to his lips, a signal not to ask questions. "You'll find out when we get there. I can't make a portal to his world – too many magical barriers – so I'm hitching a ride with you. If that's alright. That's why I broke my way in to this world in the first place, and then you all were in the middle of a standoff. Ugh, this world is hard to make a portal into too, I almost gave up. But anyway… can I come along?"

Mickey nodded. "Well, we owe ya, so sure… I guess."

Aila furrowed her brow. Why would Axel… uh, Lea, need to talk to Master Yen Sid?

Lea smiled and nodded. "Great, thanks." He placed a hand on Aila's head, his grin familiar, but somehow warmer than she remembered it ever being as well. "Well then, let's hurry it up, right kid? Sounds like we've both got stuff to talk to him about."

Aila didn't reply. She was half convinced she was still dreaming. But Lea didn't seem put off by her silence, his smile widening even more as he pulled away and headed straight for the door. Aila stared after him while Donald mumbled, "Never thought I'd see him again…" at her side.

"Please be careful, everyone," Minnie insisted as the rest of their group started to head toward the door as well. She put a hand over her heart. "I have a bad feeling about what's to come… please stay in touch, will you?"

Mickey nodded. "Of course Minnie. But don't worry. We'll all be okay. I promise."

Minnie nodded as well, seeming reassured, but still slightly nervous. They bid her farewell and told her to stay safe as well before leading Lea to the Gummi bay, the redhead following dutifully and silently the entire way. Aila kept glancing back at him, half expecting him to have vanished every time she did. But he was still there, hands in his pockets, green eyes examining the halls and the flowers and the Gummi parts each time she cast a glance his way. He carried himself a little differently now, she noted. His shoulders weren't as tight. His destination wasn't so focused – he allowed himself to take in the scenery. Was he actually a different person than the friend she'd known…? Once they were all on board the ship, Donald brought up a fifth chair (how many chairs could this thing be hiding?!) and they set off.

The flight back to the Tower was silent, which made Aila antsy almost immediately. Without comment she placed her headphones firmly over her ears, scanning through the songs in her nighttime playlist and adding a few more that she deemed relaxing enough to help her sleep. A couple of times she caught Lea staring at her, but every time she did he would immediately look away, pretending to be focused on the passing stars. She had so many questions to ask him, but she figured he would need to explain everything to Master Yen Sid too, so she might as well just wait. Besides, she was feeling pretty on edge after the whole Maleficent thing, so she was worried she might fly off the handle if they started a conversation right now. She'd kind of made a scene at him once already… God, she was so emotional lately. It was really annoying.

The ride was thankfully still quite short on the way back, and before long their group of five was entering Yen Sid's study, the sorcerer quirking a brow at Lea but turning to Mickey first. "I trust everything is under control?"

Mickey nodded, smiling. "Yup! All good. Minnie'll make sure our world's barriers are reinforced by now; Maleficent should have a hard time trying anything like that again."

"Good," Yen Sid replied. His eyes landed Lea. "I see you've also picked up a friend."

Lea rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, yeah… sorry for barging in, uh, sir…" Aila muffled a laugh – it was funny seeing Lea so flustered. Axel never used to seem flustered about anything. Lea shot her a light glare before straightening up and addressing Yen Sid again. "I've got something I wanna do, and I'm pretty sure I need your help."

Aila exchanged a confused look with Donald and Goofy. What was this about…?

Yen Sid steepled his fingers, his beady eyes boring into the redhead with a serious intensity. "Before that… I need to know exactly who you are. You are no longer part of Organization XIII… no longer a Nobody at all… correct?"

Lea nodded, glancing away a little sheepishly. "Yeah… I'm back to being… well, somebody, heh. Lea. I woke up exactly where I had lost my heart in the first place, on Radiant Garden."

"Eh?!" Aila exclaimed. "When?! Where?! What! I was just there, why didn't you say something?!"

Lea looked at her and chuckled. "Calm down, I woke up really recently. Guess I just missed you."

Aila leaned forward eagerly. "Wait, you lost your heart on Radiant Garden? Did you live there?! Oh my gosh, we need to build you a house! Ooh! Do you wanna live next door to me?!"

"Don't you live with that crazy ninja?" Lea deadpanned.

Aila grinned. "Yep!"

"The one that hates me for pulling that prank on her…?"

"Well, okay to be fair, you really shouldn't pull pranks about kidnapping people… Maybe if you just apologized…"

"Pass."

Aila pouted.

"Lea," Yen Sid said, calling everyone's attention back to him. He was still looking very serious. "Did you wake up alone?"

Lea's eyes widened a little. He glanced away, running a hand through his hair, anxiously. "…No. I wasn't the only one."

Mickey frowned. "Wait, what do you mean, 'only one'…?"

"I mean… the only one in the Organization… who woke up."

…

"WHAT?!"

Aila took a few hurried steps back, both hands over her mouth as shock began to numb her body. Donald, Goofy, and Mickey seemed equally as distraught, with Yen Sid looking quite stoic as he absorbed the news. The Organization… was _back_?! Seeing Lea had seemed like a miracle, like a fluke. Somehow the thought that he might not be the only one alive hadn't even crossed Aila's mind.

It took a few seconds for Aila's voice to start working again, but as soon as it did she choked out, "Wh-which… ones?"

Lea looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "Let's see… So, I woke up with…" He began ticking names off on his fingers. "Ienzo, Aeleus, Dilan, and Even. Who I guess you would know as Zexion, Lexaeus, Xaldin, and Vexen. Vexen isn't awake yet, but the others are."

Donald and Goofy exchanged a skeptical look. "I only know Xaldin," Donald said.

Goofy nodded. "Yeah, me too."

Aila, on the other hand, was mildly freaking out. "Are you _kidding me_?! Zexion and Lexaeus?! AND VEXEN?! And ugh Xaldin why I hate him!"

Lea grinned lightly. "I wanna point out that they're much easier to get along with now that they all have their hearts back…"

"Hang on, how do you know who they all are but we don't?" Donald asked. "I thought you didn't know anything more after beating Xemnas."

Aila sighed. "You guys just forgot. Though actually, maybe it was only Riku that met Zexion and Lexaeus… but either way, they'd be part of the memories that Naminé erased."

Donald and Goofy let out an "oh" of understanding.

Lea crossed his arms, looking uneasy. "To be honest, there were a couple of people missing that really should have woken up there, too. So either they weren't recompleted, or…"

"Or they left before you woke," Yen Sid finished for him, his eyes narrowed in serious thought.

"Okay, who was missing?" Aila asked. A tiny spark of hope lit in her heart…

"Braig, and Isa…"

Those anagrams were easy to figure out. Aila's eyes widened, the spark of hope immediately squashed. "Xigbar and Saïx…"

"Yep," Lea sighed, looking up at the ceiling again. His brow was furrowed with emotion. "Dunno where they would have gone, assuming they're… well, not dead."

Fear gripped Aila immediately. Xigbar and Saïx… now there were two people she had counted on never, ever seeing again. If they were… recompleted or whatever, would they still be evil? Axel was never _really_ evil, so Lea being good wasn't a stretch. Would the same go for the others?

Xigbar's final threat echoed in her mind: _"I'll ruin you. You ruined all this with your god damn meddling – so_ _ **I'll ruin you**_ _."_

She shivered.

And if all these people were coming back… what about…

Aila shook her head, forcing herself not to even entertain the idea. She didn't have time to think about anyone else coming back right now, especially not a certain two. One would send her into a panic. Another would bring a lot of complicated grief back to the surface. Besides, for someone to be recompleted like Xehanort, Yen Sid said their Heartless AND their Nobody had to be destroyed, right? Axel had already named five confirmed recompletions including himself, six if they counted Xehanort, and eight if they assumed Xigbar and Saïx were back too. What were the odds of anyone else coming back, then? Low. It had to be low. Almost impossible, she'd imagine.

…Right?

"So tell me, Lea," Yen Sid said, his long fingers laced before him. "Should we be concerned about these recompleted people?"

Axel met his gaze. "Ienzo, Aeleus, and Dilan? No. They seem back to their old selves, and seem to regret… well, everything. Like me…" He cleared his throat before continuing. "Even is still asleep, so I can't say for sure about him. And obviously I'm not sure on the others either."

Yen Sid nodded. "I see. Well, that is placating news for now, at least. So then. What was it you needed my help with?"

Lea let his arms drop to his sides and straightened up again. He took a deep breath. "I want to be a Keyblader."

Aila gasped, while Donald, Mickey, and Goofy let out a "Whaaat?!"

"Absolutely not!" Donald exclaimed, jumping and wagging his finger at the redhead.

Yen Sid sat back in his chair, thinking. Finally, he spoke. "…I sensed something was amiss nearly the moment Sora and Riku departed."

Aila's eyes snapped to the sorcerer. "Wait, what? What do you mean? Are they in trouble?" She had no idea there had been even the slightest hint of a problem before now.

Yen Sid's frown deepened. "Xehanort must have known what we were attempting before we even began." That was _not_ an answer, and it only served to amplify Aila's worry.

"But you do know where they are?" Goofy asked, his brow quite furrowed with his own worry.

"You must understand, this examination is in no way how the Mark of Mastery is usually found," Yen Sid replied. "However, in light of what they must do next… it was a necessity."

"What does this have to do with me getting a Keyblade?" Lea muttered under his breath. Donald shushed him.

Yen Sid continued. "If Sora and Riku complete their test, by finding the seven doors corresponding to the seven pure lights, they will return home with a new power. At that point, they will both be true masters. However, the dangers make this more trial than test."

Suddenly all of Aila's assumptions she'd been having about how easy Sora and Riku had it taking a test while they were sleeping went out the window. Why weren't these dangers laid out more clearly before now?!

"But are they safe right now?" Mickey asked, looking very concerned.

"Considering their ability, I would like to believe that they are," Yen Sid replied. "However, all my attempts to locate Sora and Riku end… questionably."

"So what do we do?" Donald asked.

Aila nodded. "Yeah, we need to help them!"

Yen Sid stroked his beard, thinking. "Xehanort is a devious tactician. There is nothing we can do that he will not, to some extent, be able to predict."

Donald groaned worriedly.

"So…" Mickey said, searching for some solution.

Yen Sid looked at Lea. "As you can see, the Organization's members, at least some of them, are complete people again. Xehanort will be no different. We cannot afford another moment's hesitation. We must consider any strategy to outwit Xehanort and catch him off guard."

There was a pause, and everyone looked to Lea.

Lea smirked. "In other words, you're telling me yes."

Yen Sid nodded. "I must warn you – the road will not be easy."

"Fine," Lea replied. "Let's jump right in."

"Wait wait wait," Aila interrupted, holding up a hand. "Can anyone just decide they want a Keyblade and then get one? How come no one told me that?! I want one!"

Yen Sid smirked lightly. "I would advise against it."

Aila deflated. "What?! Why does Lea get to but not me?"

Lea smiled slyly. "Guess I'm just more worthy than you at first glance."

Aila shot him a harsh glare. "Hey!"

"That is not why I recommend against it," Yen Sid said. "Aila, you already have quite the burden on your shoulders, being chosen by a Spirit. To add the burdens of a Keyblader… well, that would be far too much for anyone. On top of that, you yourself admitted that you still need to work on mastering your powers as a Spirit. Don't you think you should focus on that?"

Aila crossed her arms and looked away. He had some good points… "…Yeah, okay. But Keyblades are so cool…"

Lea put a hand on his hip and grinned cockily. "I'll let you hold mine, if you're nice." Aila stuck her tongue out at him. Somehow, his teasing warmed her heart – she'd missed it. She could still only half believe that he was really alive and standing before her…

"Do not get ahead of yourself, Lea," Yen Sid warned. "To become a self made Keyblader will take tremendous dedication. You will need to prove with all your heart that you are indeed worthy to wield such a weapon – only then will one come to you."

Lea, if anything, just looked more gung ho. "Don't you worry, I'll prove it to whoever I have to. So, can we start now or what?"

Yen Sid led Lea into the side room, saying something about calling Merlin as they closed the door.

Aila sat on the floor with a sigh. "Does anyone else feel like a bunch of bricks just fell on their head…?"

Goofy nodded. "Gwarsh, I can't believe Axel's back."

"And Master Yen Sid is gonna just… let him become a Keyblader?!" Donald asked, sounding incredulous.

"What, you don't trust him?" Aila asked, cocking her head curiously.

Donald frowned. "Well… I guess I do… but he hasn't even changed out of his Organization coat!"

Aila smirked and shrugged. "They're kinda comfy."

Mickey sighed. "The fact that it's not just him that's back is… unexpected…"

Aila quickly busied herself with drawing circles on the floor with her finger. Don't think about the others, don't think about the others…

Yen Sid came gliding back through the door, his robes billowing out behind him as he made his way to his chair. Aila hurriedly stood, not wanting to seem disrespectful as the old sorcerer took his seat. He was silent for a few moments, seemingly lost in deep thought. Aila wondered briefly if he even remembered that any of them were there. It was… a little awkward.

Thankfully, Mickey broke the silence. "Master Yen Sid. Gosh, do ya think he'll be able to do it?"

Yen Sid let out a thoughtful hum and began to stroke his beard again. "It's clear you cannot teach a cat to bark." Aila suppressed a smile – that was a funny analogy. "But Merlin and the three Good Fairies are aiding him in a place that's more… temporally flexible." Aila quirked a brow. O… kay. That had happened really fast. Maybe Merlin came and teleported them all just now. Yen Sid continued, "My hope is that he can at least learn to wield it. He certainly has fire, so I suppose it depends now on how strongly it burns."

"Oh…" Mickey replied, seeming… well, not very reassured by that reply. He changed the subject. "But what about Sora and Riku?"

"Well," Yen Sid sighed, folding his hands atop his desk. "If we are running on the assumption Xehanort knew what we were planning, then he still would need to have been there – back in the very place and time when the Destiny Islands were lost to Darkness. Otherwise, Sora and Riku would have been beyond his reach."

Goofy hummed, putting a finger to his head. Aila rubbed her own temples a little. Time travel was so confusing. And also weren't Sora and Riku dreaming? This was all giving her a headache.

"Gee, do you really think it's possible Xehanort could have planned things that far in advance?" Mickey asked.

Yen Sid shrugged. "No, as a matter of fact, I do not."

Goofy turned to Yen Sid. "But what if he did the same thing as Sora and Riku did, and he jumped through time?"

"For that to work, a version of himself would have had to exist at both source and destination," Yen Sid reiterated, seeming unconcerned by the theory. "Not even Xehanort can transport his whole body across vast reaches of time."

Aila thought about the first Kingdom Hearts game, about the Island Sora and Riku had supposedly traveled back to for this test. Her eyes widened. "But he was there," she breathed out.

Everyone turned to her. Yen Sid's eyes widened a fraction. "What did you say?"

"Ansem… Xehanort's Heartless, I mean… He was there," Aila repeated, horror dawning on her and everyone else as she remembered the events of the first game. "He spoke to Sora before their Islands fell… I mean he was in a creepy robe thing so his face wasn't visible, but… but I _know_ it was him, at least… at least in some form. I'm positive."

Yen Sid's eyes widened fully, his mouth dropping open at this news. "No, it cannot be! Could he be that cunning? Possess that kind of foresight?"

Okay, so this was bad. Aila didn't fully understand this time travel stuff, but it was obvious that whatever was going on was really, really not good.

"If it's alright with you, can I go help Sora and Riku out?" Mickey asked Yen Sid.

"How?" Yen Sid replied. "You cannot enter the world of a dream. Where will you go?"

An idea struck within Aila. "But I can."

Everyone turned to Aila, questions in their eyes.

Aila looked at Yen Sid. "You said that Spirits and Dream Eaters are similar, aren't they? So then couldn't I act like a Dream Eater, and follow them into the dream?"

Yen Sid thought for a second. "…In theory…"

"Aila, no, it's too dangerous," Mickey insisted. "If Xehanort really is behind all this, then they won't stay in the dream worlds forever. Eventually, they're gonna reappear somewhere that we can go reach 'em. And we can even probably guess the place. We should wait, and go to them then."

"But what if they need help sooner than that?" Aila argued. "Master Yen Sid said something's been wrong for the start – what if they've been in trouble this whole time? If I have a way to help them right now, then I can't just do nothing. Please, Your Majesty…!"

Mickey looked like he was about to say no again, but Yen Sid held up a hand. "Mickey. I know you're coming from a place of concern – you first met Aila when she was very small, did you not?" Mickey frowned, but then nodded. Yen Sid continued, "You should take another look at her – Aila has grown up since then, and has proven herself more than once since returning to our worlds. And she is right – if she has the ability to help, and her heart is telling her that she should, then we do not have the right to stop her."

Mickey hesitated before meeting Aila's eye. "…I'm sorry, Aila. I guess, maybe… maybe I do still think of you as younger than you are…"

Aila smiled sadly. "I wish I remembered meeting you back then… and I guess technically I'm still a kid, so I mean, that makes sense. But I can't just leave Sora and Riku in there all alone. I have to at least try, right?"

Mickey held her gaze for a second longer and then nodded. "If that's what your heart is telling you, then… then Master Yen Sid is right. I can't stop you." He put a hand over his chest. "Follow the hearts, and you'll find the way. That's something Master Aqua told me once." He smiled kindly. "Remember that, and you'll find your way to them. And then I'll find you all another way."

Aila nodded gratefully. "Thank you."

"We're coming too!" Donald declared.

Goofy nodded. "If we can't get into the dream with you, Aila, then we'll stay by the King's side!"

"Aw, fellas, you're my best pals," Mickey said. "But this time, I really do need to go it alone. The dangers are greater than anything we've ever faced before. If something were to happen to Sora and Riku, and Aila and me – why, you'll be the only ones left to keep this world safe."

Donald and Goofy looked very distraught at that. Aila hurriedly took their hands. "Hey, but don't worry, cause we'll all come back safe and sound! I promise!"

Donald narrowed his eyes. "You better!" His expression softened. "Be safe, okay?"

Aila nodded, smiling gently. "I will." She straightened up. "I've had loads of nightmares, and I always wake up! So this'll be easy." She hoped her feigned confidence was coming off as genuine.

"Come, Aila," Yen Sid said, standing and making his way toward the side room once again. "We must make haste."

Aila nodded and hurried to follow, glancing back once more before she went through the door. "See you soon!" she said with a wave.

Mickey nodded seriously. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"We'll be here!" Goofy promised.

"Don't be reckless," Donald warned.

Aila nodded again and then followed Yen Sid through the door, letting it click shut behind her. She took a quick breath. This was all happening very fast.

"I cannot locate Sora at all," Yen Sid confessed as he made his way toward the sleeping forms of the boys. "Riku is a bit easier to sense at the moment. I would recommend you focus on finding him first."

Aila nodded, starting to get a little nervous. Okay, a lot nervous. But if the boys were in trouble, then she had to do something. She made her way to Riku's bed, stopping next to it and staring down at his sleeping face. He still looked just as peaceful as before. She glanced uncertainly at Yen Sid. "So, um… what do I do…?"

"Place your hand over his heart," Yen Sid instructed.

Aila did as she was told, very gently placing her hand on Riku's chest. Riku's heart thudded steadily beneath her fingertips, strong and sure, his chest warm beneath the fabric of his shirt. She felt a little awkward.

Two hands landed on Aila's shoulders and she looked back to see Yen Sid steadying her. "I will use my magic to help you. Focus on Riku's heart, and try to urge your own to find its way to his. Try to get your hearts to beat as one." Oh god, this was getting more awkward by the second. Was it getting hot in here?

Aila shook her head once, trying to rid herself of any uneasy feelings, and then closed her eyes, trying to follow Yen Sid's instructions. Riku's heart continued to beat steadily. She took a few deep breaths and placed her other hand over her own chest, trying to see if maybe she could sync the beating of her own heart up with his. It took a lot of focus and a lot of remembering how she'd used to slow her heart down around the Organization members, but finally it seemed like it was starting to work. The beats of their two hearts got closer and closer until, at last, they seemed to fall into the same rhythm. All other sound seemed to fade away, leaving Aila with only the beating of two hearts in time pounding in her ears.

She vaguely felt Yen Sid catch her body as her mind seemed to fall away, the room she was in vanishing in a single breath.

And then what was left of her was falling, falling, falling into darkness, with a single light shining ahead of her like a beacon in the shadows, drawing her closer as two heartbeats continued to echo around her in perfect sync.

The light spread, and everything went white.

KHKHKHKH

Aaaand there you have the glorious return of Lea! Don't worry, he and Aila will have a bit more time to talk later.

I'm hoping this didn't feel too rushed…? Staying in Yen Sid's study for too long feels SO boring so… I kinda just wanted to get to the good stuff lol. This whole chapter felt kinda boring... I'm sorry if it was. I promise the next one is gonna be really good!

Also time travel is stupid and I hate that I need to understand it for the rest of this story lmaoooo WHATEVER I GOT THIS! Maybe. Hopefully. I'll do my best.

Please let me know what you think! I love love love reading reviews~ The next chapter should be REALLY fun, so hopefully that'll get me back on my two week track. Wish me luck!

Until next time~

~Fade


	8. Symphony

I'm so sorry this took a little while, and that it's going up at the end of a weekend rather than at the start of one - I really don't want to post chapters until I feel they're as ready as they can be, but I also don't want to keep you guys waiting forever. Also my computer died and I had to buy a new one lol~ I got this done as quickly as I could!

But THANK YOU so much for all the reviews last chapter, wow! The support I'm getting for this story is incredible, I'm so happy so many of you enjoy it. I promise I'll always try and post as fast as I can! Thank you for being patient with me.

Without further ado, here's something a lot of you have been waiting for: Aila and Riku hanging out one on one~ Hope you enjoy!

* * *

 _"Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."_

— Oscar Wilde (The Critic as Artist)

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Symphony**

After falling for what felt like somehow both a very long time and no time at all, Aila's body finally managed to right itself, her shoes gently touching down on a bed of young grass.

"Whoa," she murmured, putting a hand to her head and trying to shake the stars from her eyes. It was only after her disoriented brain started registering details again did she notice that the gloved hand she'd put over her eyes was… well, much more colorful than it had been back at Yen Sid's tower.

"What the…?" She pulled her hand away from her face and blinked in confusion. Her gloves were no longer black, but rather a bright, shiny marigold. Not only that, but the moon symbols on the back of each were gone, both replaced with a white symbol that kinda looked like a… blossoming heart? The symbol felt familiar, and after a few moments Aila realized that the Dream Eaters Yen Sid had shown them all earlier had worn the same symbols. So… did that mean it had worked…? Did this mean she was in the dream world?

Aila gasped as she caught sight of the rest of her outfit and held her arms out to better examine herself. Every item she wore was the same as it always had been, _except_ for the colors – it was as if someone had decided to have fun switching her color palate up in Photoshop or something. Her pants and jacket had gone from black to turquoise, and her usual midnight blue shirt was now a much lighter coral. Her boots were coral as well, and her belt and item pouch were the same marigold as her gloves. "Well… I won't be sneaking around in this outfit," she muttered, not sure how she felt about this color situation. She liked all of these colors, but… she also didn't like to stand out. So this was not exactly ideal. At least her hair and skin and everything still seemed to have retained its regular coloring.

"Okay, okay, okay," she sighed quietly, shaking her arms out and taking a deep breath. "Forget the clothes, gotta find Riku." Even with Celina missing, talking out loud had become comforting when she was alone if she didn't have her headphones to distract her. Besides, any bad guys would spot her from miles away in this outfit, so why bother being quiet, right?

She finally took a look at her surroundings – it was nighttime, and she seemed to be in some kind of grassy clearing. But although there was some regular sized grass underfoot, Aila quickly realized that most of the grass around her was, well, absolutely gigantic, each blade towering over her by at least eight feet. There were a good amount of giant flowers in the area as well, their soft white petals delicately reflecting the crisp moonlight shining down from a clear, star filled sky.

Aila frowned, confused. "Am I in Wonderland or something…? Or, wait, I'm not a bug am I?!" She nervously felt for antennae on her head, sighing in relief when all she felt was her regular hair. No, she was still human. So then maybe this _was_ Wonderland and she was very small…? Something else caught Aila's attention, and as she listened a little harder, she realized that she was hearing music. "Huh…?" It took another few seconds, but she was eventually able to pinpoint the song thanks to years of piano lessons she and her siblings had been given: Beethoven's Sixth Symphony. A classical song…? A breeze blew through the clearing, the large blades of grass towering overhead tinkling like wind chimes as they danced delicately back and forth. A petal from an oversized flower was blown loose, the highest notes of a piano sounding very gently as it fluttered to the floor.

Aila's eyes widened. "No way… This seems kinda like… Fantasia…?!" The music in the atmosphere seemed to get a bit louder as Aila rushed toward an opening in the tall grass, a gasp escaping her as she peeked through. Beyond the grass was a dirt path that cut through a sea of mesmerizing blue flowers, their petals glowing baby blue and creating a sight so absolutely magical that Aila almost forgot how to breathe. Another breeze gently blew past her, the notes of the symphony tickling Aila's ears and making her heart swell. She let out a laugh and jumped in the air, absolutely beside herself. "FANTASIA! Oh my gosh! No _way_! This is REAL?!" She _loved_ Fantasia – well, Fantasia 2000 specifically, but she'd seen some of the original too. She could recall watching them when she was small and being so enthralled by the beautiful visuals and classical music working together as one. She vaguely wished she had someone to celebrate with, but still! This was a dream come true!

Oh, wait, right, this really _was_ a dream. She had a job to do! She shook herself out of her state of awe and looked back and forth between the path through the flowers and the clearing she'd come from. Which way was Riku…? Her eyes were drawn back to the path; it was just _so pretty_ and she really, really wanted to go that way. Well, if her heart said to go through the pretty flowers, then who was she to refuse it? Mickey said to follow her heart, right?

She grinned and took off running, slowing once she was about halfway down the path and spinning in a slow circle to admire the flowers all around her. These flowers were maybe as big as her head, and pretty low to the ground – bigger than usual, but still small enough that Aila could get the full effect of seeing all of them at once from the path. The music continued to play all around her, and for the first time in a while, she didn't feel so anxious without anyone to talk to. This. Was. _Amazing!_

There was a rustling to her right, a few of the glowing flowers disturbed by something moving beneath their beautiful petals. Aila turned to face them, quirking a brow. The flowers rustled again and Aila reluctantly fell into a defensive stance, trying to be prepared (though she really didn't want to crush all these flowers in a fight). She relaxed, however, when the head of a small, floppy-eared bunny poked up through the petals. Its head was a mix of midnight blue and icy blue, giving it some good camouflage amongst the glowing blue flowers. Even though it was facing away from Aila, she could still tell that it was _adorable_.

"Aw!" she gushed, taking a few quick steps closer to the bunny and stopping at the edge of the flowers. "Hello!"

The bunny twitched, one ear lifting a bit at the sound of her voice. It turned, Aila's smile falling a little at the sight of its blank red eyes. O-okay, but a lot of bunnies have red eyes, right…? That was when Aila noticed the purple Dream Eater symbol on the bunny's blue chest.

Aila let out a nervous laugh. "O-oh, hey, we've got the same symbol!" She held up one hand to show off the symbol on her glove. "Though I guess yours is a little… pointier… So uh, are you a good Dream Eater or… a…"

The bunny cocked its head, studying her for just a moment before using its long ears to launch itself into the air, its red eyes glinting emotionlessly as it seemed to lock on to Aila from above.

Aila yelped and quickly dodged as the bunny came rocketing down toward her, its ears just barely missing hitting her square in the face. The path cracked under the impact of the little thing's landing – how could something so small pack such a big punch?! "Ahh, Nightmare, Nightmare!" Aila shouted, booking it down the path to try and get away from the demon rabbit. "You tricked me with your cuteness!"

The music swelled as she dashed into an opening in a hill at the end of the path, the color palate of the world seeming to completely change as she stumbled into a new area. Instead of blues, greens, and whites, her surroundings now held mostly browns, reds, and oranges, maple leaves as big as Aila's entire body littering the ground of this new clearing and deep brown vines crisscrossing up the trunk of a large tree before her. Oh good, she stood out even _more_ here in her colorful outfit.

Aila slowed at the center of the clearing, blinking around at this new place. "Ohh," she breathed, realization dawning on her. "It's like the different seasons. I guess that was summer or spring, and now I'm in fall…?"

Something soft suddenly collided with Aila's face and she squealed in surprise. She tried to pull away, but whatever was on her just pressed in closer, a high-pitched coo escaping the fuzzy thing. Aila's first instinct was that the demon bunny had caught up and was trying to murder her so she freaked out and spun around, pushing at the thing on her face until finally she was able to get it off. She stumbled back and fell into a fighting stance, about to summon her weapon as her eyes fell upon an extremely fluffy bat the color of a sunrise, yellow star designs decorating its long pink wings. It was smiling, little pointed fangs visible in its mouth, its button-like eyes meeting Aila's as it hovered before her.

"Ahhh why is this one cute too?!" Aila whined, not liking the idea of attacking such adorable creatures. She steeled herself, pointing at the bat. "Okay, cute or not, I guess I'll… um… ugh I really don't wanna fight you, stop looking so fluffy…"

"Aila?"

Aila jumped and peeked around the bat, both relieved and surprised to see Riku approaching. "Riku! I found you!" The bat took advantage of Aila's distraction and quickly rushed her again, squishing its fluffy body into her cheek with a happy sounding little trill. "Ah! No!"

Riku chuckled. "Looks like he likes you." He sounded more amused than worried about the adorable little face-eating monster.

Aila grabbed the bat by two fist-fulls of fur and held it at arm's length, shooting Riku a confused look. "Wait, what? Aren't these the bad guys?!"

Riku shook his head, his lips still pulled into a smirk. "I made friends with this one. It's a Spirit, not a Nightmare."

Aila blinked and took another look at the bat, which was wiggling back and forth in her hands like a wriggly puppy. She quickly released it, and immediately it was back on her. She now realized it was nuzzling her, not trying to bite her, but the bat was still very forceful about the apparent show of affection. "Ack, um, okay, hi…" She managed to push the bat to the side of her face so she could see Riku a little better. "A demon bunny attacked me in the flowers."

Riku's smile widened. "Yeah, they'll do that." His expression shifted, his brow furrowing in confusion. "So wait, you know who I am?"

Aila cocked her head. "Uhhh yeah, why wouldn't I?"

Riku continued to look confused. "Then… you're not a part of this sleeping world?"

Aila gently pushed the bat away, trying to placate it by scratching it behind its pointed ears instead. It seemed to like that. "No, I came into the sleeping worlds to make sure you were okay."

"Was there some worry that I wasn't?"

"Yeah, actually."

Aila explained the whole Xehanort situation as quickly as she could, the music playing throughout the area giving her words a bit of dramatic flair. Between that and the adorable bat still vying for her attention, well… it was a little hard to keep a straight face.

"And so I, uh, I came in here to find you and Sora and… heh… I'm sorry but this place is so distracting, I can't," Aila laughed, waving a hand in front of her face to try and get herself to stop randomly laughing while explaining such a serious matter. But the sight of her brightly colored glove just reminded her of the ridiculous colors her clothes had adopted, and that made her laugh even more. The bat trilled along with her and tried to nuzzle her face again, Aila just barely catching it and peaking over the top of its head at Riku. "I swear it's a serious situation, I shouldn't be laughing…"

Riku was looking pretty amused himself as he watched her, one brow raised and his lips pulled into a smirk. "No, no, sounds pretty serious to me." He reached out and pulled his bat friend away, the bat pouting as he did so. "That's enough buddy, you're not helping." The bat sighed.

A breeze blew through the area, distracting Aila once again as it created various musical sounds through the orange leaves and grass. "Danny would love this…" she breathed wistfully. "We used to watch this movie together."

"You know this place?" Riku asked.

Aila nodded. "This has gotta be Fantasia. So cool…" She snapped out of her stupor and hastily put on a serious face. "A-anyway, if there's trouble we should get you and Sora to… Wait, where _is_ Sora?"

Riku frowned. "We got separated at the start of the test. I know he's been in all the same places as me, but we just keep missing each other."

They were separated? Okay yeah, that was suspicious. "We should find him and get you guys out of here. If Xehanort is up to something, it'll be best to regroup."

"Good plan," Riku agreed. He turned and began making his way toward some tree roots that seemed to be forming some makeshift stairs. "I was about to head to the next area – I'm looking for a 'Sound Idea'. Maybe once we find that, we'll find Sora. I think he's here somewhere."

Aila hurried after Riku, falling into step beside him. "A 'Sound Idea'? Uh… is that a tangible thing…?"

Riku chuckled. "Apparently, yes." His smile fell as he continued staring at her for another second, long enough for Aila to start feeling a little awkward. Was there something on her face, or…? "I'm glad you're okay, Aila."

Aila quirked a brow. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

Riku thought for a second and then smiled softly. "No reason. Never mind. These dreams are messing with my head." He hopped up onto the lowest tree root and then turned to offer his hand. "Anyway, it's nice to have some company again." The bat made a disgruntled noise and Riku quickly shot it an apologetic look. "Not that you haven't been great."

Aila took his hand and then instantly felt awkward again. She'd never spent time with Riku one on one before… why did it feel so awkward?! Maybe she just didn't know him very well, so she wasn't comfortable around him yet. That was probably it. She allowed him to help her up onto the first root but then hastily made her way up the rest by herself, hoping she didn't look totally stupid in her colorful ensemble. How come Riku's clothes were normal colored?! Actually, he was wearing _almost_ the same outfit he had been wearing before entering the dream world, except that now his pale yellow sleeveless jacket was zipped up, and his pants were light blue jeans rather than the somewhat baggier, darker cargo pants he'd had on at the Tower. Aila pursed her lips. Why were his changes so subtle? Though… now that she was paying more attention, he also seemed… younger?

Aila stood on her tiptoes as Riku joined her atop the ledge she'd made her way up to, squinting as Riku straightened to full height. "Did I grow…?!"

Riku looked confused for a moment but then smirked again. "No, I shrank. This is how I looked two years ago. Sora and I both started this test from that point in the past."

Aila did not understand this test at all, but whatever. She grinned. "Ha! So now you're the same age as me, huh?"

"Guess so. Though…" Riku made a show of measuring where the top of his head was in relation to the top of Aila's. "Hm, even at the same age, you're still kinda short…"

"Hey!"

Riku chuckled. "Come on, this way."

Aila glared after him, but then smiled. Riku joking around was nice, and a bit unexpected. He'd always seemed a little… intimidating and quiet. And serious. She took a step to follow him but then something large and soft suddenly locked around her body from behind, pinning her arms to her sides and hefting her off the floor.

Aila screamed in surprise, Riku immediately turning around and summoning his Keyblade, ready to strike. But his fierce expression relaxed as soon as his eyes landed on Aila's attacker. "Oh, I was wondering where you had run off to…"

"E-eh?!" Aila gasped, craning her neck to see that she was being hugged by a large, round panda with a rainbow stomach and purple arms and legs, an orange cape clipped onto its back. Only its head was normal panda colors, its eyes apparently perpetually closed as it smiled happily down at her. It released her and Aila landed with a stumble, trying to catch her breath, but that was when a green and yellow bunny came lunging toward her from behind the panda. She yelped and summoned her weapon. "Demon bunny!"

A hand landed on her shoulder. "No, this one's nice," Riku assured, the bunny stopping just barely in front of Aila and cocking its head, seeming unsure as to why Aila would want to attack it. Its eyes were little yellow hearts, which Aila had to admit was much less terrifying than the glowing red eyes the last bunny she'd encountered had had…

Aila dismissed her weapon and the bunny's face lit up happily, the little thing hopping into Aila's arms without a second thought. "Um… hi," she said, still a little unsure. The bunny trilled happily in reply. In the next second the bat was back in Aila's face, and the panda lumbered over and pulled her into another huge hug. "Why?!" she choked out.

Riku let out a full laugh. "Wow, they all really like you." Realization lit in his eyes. "Maybe they know you're a Spirit? Master Yen Sid mentioned that you're kind of similar to them, right?"

"Ah," Aila agreed, giving in to all the Dream Eater hugs because resistance was obviously futile - she was way outnumbered. "I guess that would explain it…" The panda released her again and the bat backed off a little, both of them making happy, affirmative noises. The bunny seemed content in Aila's arms and just snuggled in more. Aila sighed, smiling. "Okay well, hi. So if you're good Dream Eaters, then you guys have all been keeping Riku safe, right?" All three of them nodded. Aila nodded back. "Cool, that's why I'm here too! So let's team up." Another enthusiastic nod. Aila turned to Riku and nodded very seriously. "Okay, we have assembled as your anti-Xehanort bodyguard team. You may proceed." The wiggling bunny in her arms undermined her serious expression a little.

Riku smiled. "Thank you. It's nice to be in such capable hands." Aila smiled back. The compliment sounded genuine. Then again, everything Riku said sounded very genuine. It was a good quality she'd noticed in him.

As they finally made their way toward the next area, Aila vaguely took notice of the symbol on the back of Riku's jacket – a Dream Eater symbol. Hm, so he had one too… maybe anyone who entered the dream worlds got one of those?

Riku led their strange little group through a twisted archway of dry vines, a smile breaking onto Aila's face as they exited the other side. "Winter!" she gushed excitedly, her shoes sinking a tiny bit into the crisp, clean snow that covered this entire new area. Everything here was either white or a beautiful, deep blue, a very soft sprinkling of snowflakes fluttering down onto them all. Large, upside down icicles were scattered here and there, each with a gigantic starburst of snow balancing atop its point. There were also a few dark blue plants in the area with leaves bigger than Aila or Riku, some with leaves that looked like massive blue feathers dancing delicately against the night sky.

"I think it's right up here," Riku said, continuing forward through the snow, the bat and panda dutifully following his lead. The bunny seemed very content to let Aila do the walking for it.

Aila hurried after Riku, still enthralled by this place, the music still playing all around them making her heart swell. She quirked a brow as a few snowflakes landed on her bare arms. "Huh, it's not cold…"

Riku glanced back at her. "Yeah, dream logic I guess."

Aila pursed her lips. "Usually the answer to everything weird I point out is 'magic', but now it's 'dream logic'…"

Riku chuckled lightly. "Eventually you'll just stop pointing weird things out."

Speaking of weird things, a handful of circles made of translucent pink hearts chose that moment to appear before the two fifteen year olds, the circles collapsing in on themselves in little pops of white light and morphing into human sized, dark grey frogs. Each frog was holding a lily pad shield and what seemed to be some kind of plant sword, teal and purple wings jutting out of the frogs' backs and a deep purple Dream Eater symbol on their white stomachs. Their blank red eyes zeroed in on Aila and Riku, the frog closest to Aila letting out a low and ominous "ribbit".

Aila chuckled nervously. "Okay, _these ones_ are bad guys, right?"

Riku summoned his Keyblade and fell into a fighting stance. "Yep. You ready?"

The bunny hopped out of Aila's arms and Aila fell into a fighting stance as well, summoning her staff. "Ready."

Riku shot forward, spinning his Keyblade so quickly that flames sparked from its body as he struck the first frog – a direct hit. Riku then jumped into a snow bank to his right, a soft pink glow surrounding his body as he pushed off the icy wall and leapt above the dazed frog. He pulled his Keyblade back, the pink light around him sparking right before he slammed himself down onto the enemy, the pink light exploding through his Keyblade in a wide radius and immediately disintegrating the injured frog, as well as knocking over a few of the other surrounding enemies.

Aila just stared slack jawed for a few seconds before shaking her head quickly. Focus! Their friendly Dream Eaters had already launched into battle, barreling into the enemy frogs alongside Riku, who was once again emitting a pink glow as he locked his Keyblade around an upturned icicle and used some spinning momentum to launch himself back into another frog. Riku was good, whoa.

Steeling herself, Aila set her eyes on a frog on the edge of the enemy pack and bolted forward, using her own Light to give her an impressive speed boost. Not that she was trying to look impressive but, uh, well… anyway! She slashed at the frog, but it was unfortunately able to get its own sword up just in time to block. No matter; using her Light again, Aila was able zip around to its other side and stab at the frog again, this time landing a hit on its shoulder.

Taking inspiration from Riku, she leapt at the snow bank closest to her and prepared to push off, only to yelp in surprise when pink light suddenly surrounded _her_ as well. She flailed, caught off guard, and stumbled back to solid ground, utterly baffled as the pink light dissipated from her as quickly as it had come. "Wh-what the…?!" She realized just in time that the frog she'd been fighting was lunging at her and brought up her staff to block, shoving the enemy back and counterattacking with a few quick slashes. The frog croaked in surprise, Riku's Keyblade flying in from behind and landing the final blow. The frog disintegrated and Riku caught his Keyblade with ease.

Aila sighed. "Thanks."

Riku dismissed his Keyblade. "You had him, but he was the last one left, so…"

Aila quirked a brow, noticing that all the frogs had indeed been defeated. Wow, this team of Dream Eaters plus Riku did quick work. Aila rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "I woulda had him quicker, but I started glowing and got freaked out…"

Riku crossed his arms. "Oh, that's right. I guess I should explain Flowmotion to you."

Aila cocked her head. "Flowmotion…?"

"Yeah. So, in here, when you jump into a wall or other solid surface, Flowmotion will kick in and give you a boost. It helps you jump higher, hit harder, and basically get to hard to reach places by kinda… lessening gravity's effects on you for a few seconds. As long as that glow is around you, it's active."

Aila scrunched up her face. "O…kay. So… all I have to do is jump into… anything?"

"Yep. Anything solid. Guess these snow banks are solid enough for it to work."

Aila glanced at the closest snow bank skeptically. "…Dream logic is weird."

"Heh, no arguments there. Come on, I think I saw what we need right over here."

Riku led the way to a dark pond a little ways down the path and pointed to an icy platform out in the water. "See? We need to activate that."

Aila looked a little closer and realized that there was something… shiny encased in ice on top of the platform. She nodded, but then cast a nervous glance at the dark water before them. She didn't like when water was so dark that you couldn't see what was underneath it… "So… are we swimming there, or…?"

"Not necessarily," Riku replied, making his way to the edge of the pond. Without hesitation, he jumped into a snow bank on his right and then launched himself over the water, a pink glow engulfing his body and seeming to carry him much farther than he should have been able to go. He touched down on the platform easily and turned, smiling. "Wanna try it?"

Aila pressed her lips into a thin line, skeptical that she would be able to copy him. But, not wanting to seem like dead weight, she marched over to the snow bank and, after taking a deep breath, attempted to do what Riku had just done. She leapt into the snow bank, pink light wrapping around her as she pushed off again, her eyes locked onto her destination. Her entire body felt so much lighter than usual as she sailed over the water, or perhaps the air molecules beneath her felt denser, like they were strong enough to hold her up for a few moments, keep her aloft, even though that was impossible, how could air hold her up, she wasn't a feather she was a human person! The pink light around her flickered and, with a yelp, Aila fell into the dark water. The music dulled as soon as she hit, only barely audible over the water pressing against her ears. Aila blinked hard after her body finally slowed beneath the surface, trying to get the sudden darkness to recede. Her heart stuttered a few times in mild panic and she searched frantically for the surface, the sudden lack of sound and light disorienting her.

A hand wrapped around her wrist and then in the next second she was pulled back into the open air, her body being hoisted all the way out of the water with relative ease. She stumbled on the ice of the platform and felt a second hand steady her shoulder, her breathing a little fast as she got her bearings again.

"You okay?" Riku asked.

Aila glanced up at him, embarrassment already burning her cheeks. "Y-yeah, um, sorry…" She pulled away from him, the awkwardness from before returning tenfold with the two of them standing so close. But water was still dripping into her eyes, and her hasty retreat only managed to make her heel slip off the edge of the platform. She felt herself start to fall only for Riku to reach out and grab her arm again, pulling her back onto the platform for a second time.

"Careful," Riku breathed.

Aila's whole face was burning now. Stupid dream logic preventing her from being cold – if this weren't a dream she probably would have immediately frozen to death as soon as she'd hit that water and would have therefore avoided dealing with the mega embarrassment of it all. She was here to help Riku, not the other way around! Now she was dripping with water because she failed at using stupid dumb Flowmotion for something as simple as jumping to a platform and—

"You got pretty far," Riku said - it took Aila a second to realize that he was talking about her Flowmotion attempt. He released her arm and continued, "Sorry, I probably should have had you test it out over dry land first, it takes a few tries to get the hang of it…"

Aila kept her gaze firmly on the ground, wringing out her hair and wanting to melt into the puddle she was creating beneath her feet. "Flowmotion is stupid…" she mumbled, frustrated.

She heard a slight chuckle and glanced up to see Riku holding a fist to his mouth, maybe in an attempt to pretend the noise he'd just made had been a cough. But the hint of amusement in his eyes gave him away.

Aila glared, her face and neck burning even more. "Ha ha, I fell in a pond…"

Riku cleared his throat and shook his head. "Uh, sorry, I didn't meant to laugh…" He smiled kindly, looking maybe a little awkward himself for some reason. Why should he feel awkward? He had gotten to the platform with no problem. "You'll pick it up fast, I'm sure. Come on, let's get that Sound Idea, since we went through so much trouble for it."

'It was only trouble for me,' Aila thought with a sigh, but she followed Riku to the shiny thing encased in ice anyway, trying to ignore the urge to go dive back into the water just to hide her still burning face. At least Sora and Donald hadn't been here to see her impromptu swim – she never would have heard the end of this from those two. She glanced over her shoulder to see their Dream Eater friends waiting dutifully for them on the shore, the panda flashing a thumbs up when she caught its eye. She ran a hand down her face, frustrated that there had been so many witnesses to her Flowmotion fail. Ughhh.

She pulled herself together as she reached the shiny thing, which, it turned out, was a rainbow music note encircled by a spinning, rainbow music staff. Her interest piqued, her embarrassment momentarily forgotten as she leaned in to inspect the music note. "Whoa, pretty…" She glanced at Riku. "So should we melt the ice?"

Riku summoned his Keyblade. "I don't think we need to. Let's see…" Aila stood back as he pointed his Keyblade at the ice, light shooting out of the blade's tip and striking the music note head on. Beautiful little fireworks of more colorful music notes exploded from the ice, a musical scale playing rather than the usual pops Aila would expect to hear from fireworks. To their left, a much larger mass of ice appeared in the pond, connecting to their platform and creating a path back to land in a couple of different directions, including the one they'd come from. Aila scowled. Sure, _now_ there was a path…

Riku lowered his Keyblade. "So," Aila asked, "was that the Sound Idea?"

"Not quite," Riku replied. "But we're going the right way."

Their Dream Eater companions came running up to them from the newly formed path, looking very pleased. Riku put a hand on his hip and raised a brow at the bat in particular. "You could have flown over to us sooner, you know." The bat just trilled happily.

A handful of enemies chose that moment to spawn on the new platform. This time, along with more frogs, a handful of colorful penguins appeared as well – each of them had blue feet, yellow wings, and a necklace with giant magenta beads around their necks. Orange goggles sat atop their heads, their blue beaks looking extra sharp underneath their soulless red eyes. Aila sighed. The penguins were, again, kinda cute despite their odd design. Why couldn't their enemies all be ugly and gross?

Everyone sprung into action, Aila deciding to stick to her regular attacks this time rather than try any Flowmotion again. A penguin leapt at her and she summoned a shield, feeling the enemy collide with her Light. The penguin stumbled back, dazed, and Aila slashed it across the chest with her staff. It squawked in pain and Aila quickly stabbed it with the sharp end of her staff, wincing a little as the penguin faded away. "Sorry!" she whispered, feeling a little bad about destroying a cute penguin. She zeroed in on a frog – they were less cute than the penguins, so she'd feel less bad about attacking them. Using her speed once again, she raced into the frog's blind spot and stabbed her staff into it, summoning magic to her weapon. "Fire!" she shouted, powerful flames bursting into the frog. It stumbled toward the water, looking very charred. It wavered for a second and then with a delirious croak fell into the pond, disintegrating as it hit the water. Aila giggled. "Sorry frog, guess you _croaked_!"

"Wow," she heard Riku sigh, her whole body jumping as she realized he'd heard her. "No wonder you and Sora get along so well…"

Aila turned around, a plastic smile on her face as she tried her very best not to turn red again, internally screaming at herself. "Ha, did I say that out loud…?"

Riku was smirking, the final enemy fading away as he caught his Keyblade. "Only a little."

He turned and started walking toward the edge of the platform and Aila pressed her hands into her face, embarrassed again. Ugh, where was Sora already?! She needed him to do all the talking since she was clearly awful at being around people. Okay, just… she was just gonna put some distance between herself and Riku until she stopped feeling like such a loser. She allowed their three Dream Eaters to go before her like a kind of buffer before reluctantly trudging after Riku, internally berating herself for doing so many embarrassing things in a row. Why did she have to make such a bad pun?!

Riku stopped in front of a steep incline, a floating strip of what looked like large, linked snowflakes extending out before him. He turned to Aila, appearing oblivious to her embarrassment. "Ready to try Flowmotion again?"

"Huh?" Aila replied eloquently, her heart sinking a little. No, she was not ready to fall on her face again! Could she at least have a _few_ minutes to redeem herself?!

Riku held out a hand. "Come on, I'll help you. It'll be easier this time."

Aila just stared dumbly at his hand. She frowned nervously. "I'm gonna fall again…"

Riku shook his head. "You won't. I should have helped you more the first time." He shrugged, smiling patiently. "Besides, we've gotta use it to keep going. I don't see another way over this wall."

Aila hesitated but finally relented, slowly taking Riku's outstretched hand with her own. He locked his fingers around hers and pulled her closer, Aila already feeling her face heat up again. So much for keeping her distance.

"Okay, on three, we'll jump onto the snowflakes," Riku said. Aila just nodded nervously. "One, two, three!"

They both jumped, Riku landing a little ahead of Aila. As soon as their feet connected with the snowflake strip the pink glow of Flowmotion activated around their bodies and they rocketed forward, Aila gasping and flailing a little as she tried to keep her balance. Riku's hand tightened around hers and he was able to steady her, the boy glancing back and smiling reassuringly. Aila tried to smile back, but she was too focused on keeping her balance to do much more than grimace. Flowmotion was _not_ meant for someone who fell off of things as much as she did.

They rode the snowflake rail over the wall and through a tunnel that eventually opened up to a new, still snowy area for them to explore. Aila realized with about one second to spare that the snowflake path they were on was headed straight for the edge of a cliff, her heart sputtering in panic just as Riku shouted, "Jump!" She followed his order and jumped with all her might, her body feeling light as a feather as she and Riku ascended into the air. He smiled at her as gravity started to slow their leap. "See? You didn't fall."

His eyes darted to the snowy floor below them. "More enemies – try and use the residuals of Flowmotion." He summoned his Keyblade to his free hand, Aila hurriedly summoning her staff to hers. Their bodies were beginning to fall back to earth now. Still holding Aila's hand, Riku lifted his Keyblade above his head. "Focus it into your weapon…" Aila mimicked Riku, trying follow his instructions as the ground rushed up to meet them. They landed at the same time and Aila slammed her staff into the ground on instinct, pleasantly surprised when the pink glow around her rushed through her staff and exploded out toward the handful of Nightmares she and Riku had landed among. Their combined attack knocked every enemy to the ground, Aila staying crouched where she had landed for a few seconds while she caught her breath.

Riku glanced her way, looking very satisfied with how that had gone. "Nice job, Aila."

Aila realized that she was holding Riku's hand _extremely_ tightly and quickly released it, though she couldn't help but smile back a little proudly. "Heh… thanks!"

Their Dream Eater friends came falling down from above, each landing with such force that all of the enemies that Aila and Riku had downed were completely taken out on impact. These Nightmares weren't very tough.

With renewed confidence, Aila continued forward with the group, the five of them taking out any new Nightmares with relative ease. Aila was a little distressed when some really adorable seal enemies spawned, but thankfully the panda killed most of them with hugs (apparently its hugs could be lethal – Aila nervously made note of that) so she didn't have to hurt many of them. With some encouragement from Riku, Aila attempted to use Flowmotion to attack again and actually managed to do it successfully three times in a row. It _really_ packed a punch, and Aila found herself feeling much less worn out than she would normally be after such attacks. Maybe Flowmotion wasn't _totally_ stupid…

They came upon another pond with a platform in its center, Aila suggesting that Riku go unlock the music note thingy on it by himself this time – she was in no hurry to fall into any more dark water. He did so easily, a larger platform once again revealing itself when he was done, along with another path of snowflakes. This time Aila didn't hesitate, leaping onto the snowflakes and zipping past Riku, laughing and challenging him to keep up. These snowflakes ended on a flat path of snow, Aila running a few feet after it had ended before turning to face Riku. "I won!" she taunted as he arrived at the end of the snowflakes.

Riku ran a couple of steps before slowing himself down, the pink glow fading from his body as he crossed his arms at her. "Since when were we racing?" he asked with a smirk.

"Since I was winning," Aila replied cheekily. She turned to continue down the path only to feel someone grab her hood and pull it up and over her head, her vision temporarily compromised. She sputtered, confused, and pushed her hood back only to see Riku racing off ahead of her. "Hey!" she shouted, laughing as she took off after him. Riku was fast, but Aila had her Light to help her – she summoned some to her heels and overtook him, sticking her tongue out as she turned and kicked some snow back at him. Riku skidded to a stop and held up his arms, an indignant sound escaping him as he shook some snow from his hair. Aila giggled. "You'll never beat me in a race, sorry!"

Riku chuckled, brushing some silver hair away from his eyes. "Okay okay, you win."

Aila pumped a fist. "Yes! That makes the score one to zero!" She froze, realizing that she was subconsciously mimicking Sora from the first Kingdom Hearts, when he and Riku would race on their Island, which was super weird to do in front of one of the people from that actual scene.

But Riku either didn't make that connection or didn't care, his expression unfazed as he walked up and patted her on the shoulder. "Fine, we're keeping score, huh? I'll remember that."

He noticed something behind Aila and she turned, curious as to what had caught his eye. A rainbow sheet of music was hovering a few feet away, glittering and beautiful, larger than the others they'd come across. Riku approached curiously, the sheet of music shuddering and then floated toward him when he got close, glowing brighter and brighter before disappearing directly into his chest. Riku put a hand over his chest and gasped, seeming awed.

"Was that…?" Aila asked.

"The Sound Idea," Riku replied with a nod. He turned to her with a smile. "Guess we found it."

Aila grinned back. "Awesome! Now let's find Sora and we can—"

Aila didn't get a chance to finish her thought, the entire world suddenly seeming to wipe away around her and Riku, startling her into silence. Everything vanished – the snow, the sky, even their Dream Eater companions, nothing but solid blackness left where the world had once been. Aila could still see both herself and Riku clearly, so she knew it wasn't just that the lights had gone out – it was like everything had just… ceased to exist except for them.

"Um… is this normal?" Aila asked. This _was_ a dream, wasn't it? So… maybe this happened a lot?

"No," Riku breathed, his expression very serious. His muscles were tensed like he was anticipating an attack, which made Aila immediately nervous.

The solid floor beneath their feet vanished, Aila's heart jumping into her throat as she felt gravity take hold. She and Riku screamed as they began to fall into the dark abyss, Aila tumbling head over feet, unable to tell which way was up when everything looked exactly the same.

"Aila!" Riku called, his voice muted by the wind rushing past Aila's ears. Aila was able to turn herself enough to see him reaching out to her, her eyes stinging as she tried to keep them focused on him.

She stretched out her own hand, but before she could reach him, her vision went black.

"Riku?!" she tried to call, but no sound came out of her. It was as if she, too, had been erased, and now nothing but infinite, silent blackness remained. She began to panic. What now?! She couldn't see, or speak, or hear, or… was there even still any of her left to do any of those things?!

" _Do not be afraid."_

Aila's heart leapt, giving her proof that it still existed. 'Who's there?!' she thought frantically.

" _You are only lost."_

Aila struggled to try and see something, anything. She could fathom words being spoken to her, but somehow they held no voice, no sound. They just… existed. She felt her heart beating very quickly. 'Yes, I am lost,' she thought back shakily.

" _Do not be afraid. We are all lost, in one way or another."_

'Can you help me?'

" _No. You must make your own choices."_

'But… I can't…'

" _Walk your own path."_

Aila was so confused. There was only one person she'd ever known to be this cryptic. '…Celina?'

" _Celina."_ The name echoed soundlessly in Aila's mind, over and over and over. Was that a confirmation of who was speaking…? Or was it just a repetition of her own question?

Feeling started to return to her, the air on her skin extremely dry, like she was in a desert, minus the heat. Something hard was pressed into the side of her body - the ground. She was lying on the ground. Slowly, she blinked her eyes open, her vision blurred and hazy as her body adjusted to… wherever it was she'd ended up. She pushed herself into a sitting position with a breathy groan, placing a hand to her head. Her clothes were still very brightly colored, so she was still in the dream world. But… where?

"You shouldn't be here."

Aila was startled by the new voice of a young man, one she didn't recognize. Her vision finally cleared and she moved her hand away from her face, her breath catching at the sight of the Organization coat in front of her.

Frantically, she looked up into the face of a man she'd never met before, momentarily confused – she'd been expecting to see a member of the Organization. This man was in his late teens, or maybe very early twenties, with soft, tanned features accented by white hair that spiked up along the top of his head but fell in longer locks in front of his ears and down his back. Piercing yellow eyes framed by long eyelashes gazed down upon her, the man's expression unreadable.

Aila glanced at her surroundings – she was on some sort of high, rocky platform, only just big enough to hold both herself and this strange man. Definitely not enough space to fight on. Not that there seemed to be many better options; to her right was a massive volcano, which explained the dryness of the air. Even if she couldn't feel the heat, she had a feeling falling into lava might still be very bad. There were a handful of other small platforms here and there, but, Aila realized with a nervous gulp as she glanced over the edge of her current platform, they were all _so_ far off the ground that she could hardly even see all the way down, the relative darkness of this place making everything below a certain point blend together. She could, however, make out a few glowing paths of lava way down there – that probably wasn't a great place to be either.

She heard a footstep and snapped her head back toward the man, who it seemed was closing the small amount of distance between them. She tried to stand and maintain some distance, but there wasn't really anywhere to go – she felt her foot slip on the platform's edge, the man before her reaching out and grabbing her by the collar of her shirt to keep her from falling.

"You shouldn't be here," the man repeated, quieter this time. His eyes narrowed, Aila's heart skipping a few nervous beats under the intensity of his stare.

"Who are you?" she managed to breathe out, her voice shaking ever so slightly.

The man's expression flickered momentarily into confusion before settling once again into a glare. "Celina, care to fill in the blanks?"

Celina wasn't saying anything, but it seemed like this guy didn't know that. But how did he know about Celina at all? Aila swallowed nervously, remembering how worried Mickey had seemed about how many people knew that she was a Spirit. Should she try to pretend he had the wrong person? "My name isn't Celina, it's…"

"Don't play dumb," the man snapped, pulling Aila a little closer. "I know who you are, Aila. And Celina knows me. Is she shocked? Surprised to see me again, like this? It has been a very long time, after all."

Aila wasn't sure how to respond. Her silence seemed to irritate the man further.

"Well? Has she told you yet?"

Aila decided to just tell the truth. "I don't know what you're talking about…"

The young man's grip loosened ever so slightly, emotion flashing in his eyes. He almost seemed… hurt? But that momentary emotion was quickly pushed away, his yellow eyes flashing with what Aila could only guess was rage. "Why wouldn't she tell you…? To hurt me?" He took a step forward, pushing Aila closer to the edge, his grip tightening on her shirt like he was getting ready to dangle her over the side of the platform. "Or could it be that I was so unimportant to her that she genuinely doesn't remember? After everything… Spirits really are nothing but trouble…"

"Aila!"

The young man turned at Riku's call, Aila taking advantage of his distraction and summoning her weapon. She slashed at him but he managed to dodge, releasing her as he backed away. Aila felt her balance slipping as the young man leapt away toward the volcano, Riku sailing in and grabbing her hand before she could fall, pulling her back to safety yet again. Aila sighed, relieved, but then blinked up at Riku in confusion. "…Were you just _flying_?"

Riku's lips twitched into a tight smile, though the rest of his expression remained deadly serious. "Dream logic," he replied tersely. "Are you okay?"

Aila nodded, glancing warily at the stranger, who was now watching the two of them from the volcano's edge. "He knows Celina," she whispered nervously.

Riku's jaw clenched and he turned to face the young man, stepping in front of Aila a little as he addressed the stranger. "Leave her out of this."

The young man put a hand to his chest. "Believe me, I'm trying. But she just can't seem to help herself. Spirits really do have an affinity for misery, don't they." His yellow eyes locked with Aila's. "Everything you do, every choice you make, will _always_ lead to despair. There are no happy endings for someone like you. The sooner you realize that, the easier the little time you have left will be." His lips twisted into a cold smirk. "After all, someone as pathetic as you? You'll never be what she was anyway. So why don't you just go home and wait out your borrowed time?"

Aila clenched her fists. "Shut up! You don't even know me!"

The young man scoffed. "Oh, but I do. I remember more about you than you remember about yourself." Riku seemed to tense at that, his fists clenching as well.

Aila felt her eyes flash with anger. "Yeah right!"

"What are you even doing here?" Riku asked, staring the stranger down.

The young man smiled, his attention switching back to Riku. "Waiting for you, of course. The boy chosen by the Keyblade – Riku."

Riku pulled back, confused. "What?"

"It was yours first, wasn't it?" the stranger replied smoothly. "But you succumbed to the darkness you could not control, and your prize – the Keyblade – passed on to Sora instead." Riku's fists clenched again, his head dropping forward a bit as the young man continued, "Your mistakes always end up being other people's problems."

"That's not fair!" Aila shouted, angry on Riku's behalf. "Stop talking like you know anything about people you've never even met!"

The young man's gaze flickered to Aila again, a dark expression crossing his face. "I know enough. People are who they are. They do not change; only reveal the depths of the darkness that always existed within them."

"You're wrong," Riku said, lifting his head and glaring confidently at the stranger before him. "I'm not who I used to be. I'm carving a new path." Aila flashed him a small smile, glad to see that this weirdo's words hadn't gotten to Riku.

The stranger shrugged. "You're carving a path, all on your own? Funny. Because once again, you performed predictably, although on a grander scale than I imagined."

"If you're feeling so chatty, let's skip to where you reveal what this is all about," Riku shot back, seeming done with this conversation. Aila was done too – whoever this guy was, he was a real piece of work.

The young man studied Riku for a moment. "I don't know how you did it, but you really have found a way to trap darkness inside your heart. And a boy who's immune to darkness is of no use to us."

"Well there's some good news," Riku scoffed. Aila smirked.

The young man closed his eyes. "Your abyss awaits."

Lava erupted from the volcano, the stranger summoning a dark portal and coolly making his exit. Aila and Riku instinctively shielded their eyes as smoke overtook them from the volcano's eruption, Aila planting her heels a little more firmly when the force of the blast almost knocked her back. Ominous music began to play, which surprised Aila – were they still in Fantasia? The lack of music in this place had lead her to believe they had fallen to somewhere else. Her heart sank as she recognized the score – Night on Bald Mountain.

Chernabog's theme.

"Look out!" she cried, dropping to the floor and erecting a shield of Light before herself and Riku just as the giant, inky winged demon Chernabog rose from the volcano and let out a mighty roar. The sound alone was enough to send Aila and Riku flying, even with Aila's shield in place. Aila flailed as she tumbled through the air, trying desperately to right herself so that she might be able to find something to throw a Light rope around to slow her fall or… something! She just needed to _stop falling_ …!

Her body slowed and she blinked, confused. She was hovering in midair, a smattering of sparkling light surrounding her. Was this… was she flying?! She gasped and flailed as her body started to tip – this felt like the first time she had visited Atlantica and was getting used to being underwater.

"Aila!"

Aila looked up at Riku's shout, her eyes widening in panic as she registered the giant fireball heading straight for her. She hurriedly summoned her staff and held it above her head. "Defend!" she cried, a Reflect spell springing into action around her just in time to block the attack. The force of it still pushed her back though, her precarious balance in the air immediately thrown back into disarray as she once again went tumbling through the air, her spell fading with the flames of the fireball.

An arm caught her around the middle, pulling her to a stop. She gasped and glanced up at Riku. "You okay?" he asked.

Aila let out a sharp breath. "Y-yeah. Not used to flying."

Chernabog roared angrily, both teens turning to face him. Riku glanced Aila's way as he released her, Aila flailing a little as she once again tried to balance in the air. "Just focus on where you want to go, and you'll fly there. If you get into trouble, just let me know."

Aila nodded, holding up her weapon and trying her best to look confident. "Right, p-piece of cake, Chernabog won't stand a chance!"

Riku quirked a brow. "Chernabog…?"

Chernabog roared again and Aila nodded, gesturing toward the monster. "Big scary demon thingy. Chernabog. His music is so cool but he wants to kill us so…"

Chernabog threw a few more fireballs toward the teens and they dodged, Aila a lot less gracefully than Riku but she didn't get her face burned off so hey that was good.

Riku flew forward, Keyblade slicing through another fireball as he made a beeline for Chernabog. Aila took a shaky breath and then did her best to follow him, her flying a little unstable – she tried to keep her eyes on Riku and just will herself to keep moving toward him, and that seemed to work. A rumbling sounded from below her and she looked down just in time to see a pillar of lava bursting up toward her, her eyes widening as she hastily cast another Reflect. She was blasted upward, safe inside her magical shield but once again disoriented, her body spinning three times before she managed to stop herself. She shook stars from her eyes, the room still spinning as she tried to find Riku. He was a long ways below her now, still making steady progress toward Chernabog as he dodged and sliced through fireball after fireball.

Aila decided to change tactics, taking off in a wide arc toward Chernabog and hoping to surprise him from above and behind. She didn't get very far before Chernabog's giant head suddenly snapped toward her, his solid yellow eyes narrowing as he let out a rumbling growl. Aila cursed her stupid bright clothing – this plan totally might have worked if she didn't look like a child's crayon drawing right now.

Chernabog raised his arms and around a dozen creatures sprouted forth from blue fire in his hands. It was hard to make out what the creatures were, their entire bodies wrapped in inky black capes, hoods draped over their heads. The only visible body parts were spindly grey hands poking out of each sleeve, and as they looked at Aila (all at the exact same time) she could see glowing, ghostly yellow eyes within the darkness created by their hoods. They looked a lot like Dementors from Harry Potter. Aila felt herself pale – this was probably bad.

The Dementor things started flying toward Aila at startling speeds, Aila raising her staff and casting a Thundara to try and hit as many as she could at once. She managed to get a few of them, those she hit fading away with an ear piercing screech. The fact that they were taken out with one hit was a good sign, but there were still like eight of them left that had managed to avoid the lightning strikes and they were so quick that in the next second they were all on top of her. Aila yelped as they grabbed at her, their bony fingers digging into her arms and neck and hair.

"Get away, _get away_!" she shouted, pulling her staff in close and summoning Light to explode from its top. The Dementor things hissed and released her, those that had been closest fading away from the blast. Four left!

As quickly as she could Aila zipped down toward Chernabog, narrowly dodging a few more hands. Riku had just reached Chernabog down below, the demon distracted by the Keyblader's attacks. Aila scrunched up her face, trying to focus on flying as fast as she could and doing her best to ignore the part of her brain that told her she was definitely going to fall any second because how was she even flying right now?! She glanced over her shoulder, her heart leaping nervously as she saw the four Dementor things hot on her tail, their sharp fingers outstretched toward her. Facing forward again, she clutched her staff in both hands and drew it back over her shoulder, her eyes locked on to Chernabog. With a yell she flew past Chernabog and slashed viciously at his back, her staff scraping deep into him and eliciting an earth shaking roar.

Without missing a beat Aila turned around and held out a hand, summoning a beam of Light and shooting it directly into the remaining Dementor things. They screamed and faded away, leaving Aila hovering, panting. She put a hand to her head, feeling her vision spin ever so slightly. "Okay, no more Light for a while," she muttered to herself, imagining the way Celina would normally be yelling at her for pushing too far. A growl made her glance toward Chernabog again, her stomach flipping as she realized he was looking right at her, his massive form looming angrily over her. "Um… Hey, I like your music," she tried, grinning nervously. Chernabog slammed one hand into the rim of the volcano and pulled the other one back, blue-white flames sparking to life in his palm as he prepared some sort of massive attack.

Aila braced herself, preparing to cast another Reflect, but she didn't need to. Riku slammed into Chernabog's raised arm from behind and the demon screeched, his attack dying in his hand. Chernabog turned to look at his attacker and Riku shot a blast of ice at the demon's face, freezing his eyes shut. Chernabog roared and clawed at his own face, temporarily blinded.

"Aila!" Riku called.

"Right!" Aila replied, rushing toward Chernabog as quickly as she could. She and Riku each reached one of Chernabog's shoulders at the same time and, with simultaneous yells, stabbed their weapons directly into the monster. Chernabog screamed, and suddenly everything went white.

Aila gasped and opened her eyes, blinking in confusion. There was no more music. She was back in Yen Sid's study. Had she messed up and been kicked out of the dream? Riku was by her side, looking a little disoriented as well – both of them were still in their same dream world outfits, so how…? Aila gasped and took a step back, realizing that the room was flooded with water up to her knees. What?!

" _Thank you, Riku!_ " a familiar high pitched voice echoed. Aila spun around, confused, her eyes finally landing on Mickey sitting in Yen Sid's usual chair. The mouse had a red robe tied around his waist, his brown shoes resting up on Yen Sid's desk. But most telling was the pointed blue hat he wore, with a pattern of yellow stars and a crescent moon – Yen Sid's hat. This was what Mickey wore in Fantasia. Realization dawned on Aila – they _were_ still in the dream. Still in the story of Fantasia, at least some version of it.

Mickey's face was scrunched up like he was in pain, his hands waving back and forth like he was conducting some sort of invisible orchestra. Semi-transparent wisps of Darkness were dancing around his body like dark flames, his eyes shut tight. His voice echoed again, despite his lips remaining still: " _Say, can we try out that Sound Idea?_ "

Riku nodded and held his hands out, seeming to summon the Sound Idea back out of his own heart. The rainbow sheet of music materialized above his palms, floating up toward the ceiling after Riku gave it a gentle push. It settled above a music stand that Aila now realized also had wisps of Darkness all around it. Was that what they needed to fix?

Riku summoned his Keyblade and pointed it at the sheet of music, but nothing happened. He relaxed a little, looking confused about what he was supposed to do.

Aila crossed her arms and thought for a second. She glanced at Mickey, who was still conducting his invisible orchestra. She tapped Riku on the shoulder. "Hey, why don't you try conducting with the Keyblade? It's a sheet of music, right?" Riku frowned and quirked a brow, not seeming to follow. Aila demonstrated with her hands, waving them back and forth like Mickey. "You know, conducting music?"

Riku smiled lightly. "Worth a shot." He faced the Sound Idea again and lifted his Keyblade, doing his best to act like he was conducting. Aila giggled lightly and he glanced at her with a smirk. "Shush." Aila pressed her lips together and held up her hands, gesturing for him to continue. He did, and before long the Sound Idea began to react. Pale blue light began to glow from its center, sparkles of magic erupting from it and traveling down into the music stand. But the Darkness didn't recede.

Riku frowned and stopped conducting, sighing disappointedly. Aila frowned as well. The Sound Idea was clearly activated, and its magic was going into the music stand, so then how come the Darkness wasn't budging?

Suddenly, a second Sound Idea appeared next to the first, this one glowing lightly magenta. The two sheets of music began to circle one another, and a beautiful tune began to echo around the room. Aila gasped lightly, recognizing the song: it was "Dearly Beloved" from Kingdom Hearts, one of the first songs she'd learned on her own on the piano. Her heart filled with nostalgic joy combined with the unreal knowledge that she was actually living the story that song had been written for, her eyes locked onto the two Sound Ideas as they continued to glow brighter and brighter, both of them spilling magic down onto the music stand. Before long their glow was too much and Aila was forced to shut her eyes, her lashes a little wet and her heart very full.

The light faded, and when Aila opened her eyes again, all the water that had been flooding the room was gone, along with any traces of Darkness and both of the Sound Ideas.

Mickey finally relaxed and opened his eyes, a smile spreading on his face as he hopped off of Yen Sid's chair. "That was amazing!" he gushed, examining his hands for a second before smiling at Riku. "What happened?"

Riku was still staring at the spot where the two Sound Ideas had been, a smile on his face. "Sora."

"Sora?" Mickey asked. He chuckled. "Funny… Just hearin' that name kinda makes me wanna smile."

Riku looked at Mickey and chuckled in reply, "Yeah. That's how he is."

Mickey looked up to where the Sound Ideas had been and smiled. "Whaddya know. Riku and Sora. The Sound Ideas you two set free joined together. And when they did, they made a great and powerful harmony."

Riku nodded. "Sora can find the brightest part of anything, and pull off miracles like there's nothing to it." Aila watched Riku carefully, struck once again by how genuine his words were. He continued, "It's pretty hard not to smile around him." Aila smiled softly. See? That weird guy in the Organization coat had been wrong. Riku cared so deeply for his friend, and he would do whatever he could to make up for his past mistakes. Aila was sure that as far as Sora was concerned, Riku had already more than made up for everything.

"Wow!" Mickey gasped happily. "No wonder the music sounded like so much fun! But I bet he's got you to thank for that. Havin' such a good friend means he could really enjoy it."

Riku cocked his head, confused. "Huh?"

Mickey continued. "It's like each of you is holding on to a little part of the other. Your hearts are always in tune, so they're free to sing."

Aila laced her hands behind her back. "Not to be a downer, but… where _is_ Sora? I thought we'd find him in Fantasia."

Mickey turned to her, seeming to notice her for the first time. "Fantasia?"

Aila rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh, uh, the music place… Um, that's what I've been calling it…"

Mickey smiled. "Gosh, that's a nice name for it. Mind if I call it that too?"

"Heh, sure…!"

Mickey held out a hand. "I don't think we've met. I'm Mickey Mouse."

Aila blinked, momentarily confused. She supposed, when she thought about it, the story of Fantasia probably took place a long time ago, and Mickey did look vaguely more youthful than she was used to. So… this world was in the past, then? Ohhh, this explained why Riku was surprised that Aila recognized him when he first saw her in here. With a smile, Aila took Mickey's hand. "I'm Aila. It's nice to meet you."

"You too! Thanks for helpin' Riku get that Sound Idea for me. I, uh, kinda made a mistake and, well… I couldn't fix it on my own."

"Well, I came to help, so I'm glad I could, uh, help!" Aila said with a smile. "Now we just need to find Sora."

"Don't worry, we'll find him," Riku assured.

"You all seem like good friends," Mickey said, his eyes almost sparkling with admiration. "Gosh, I hope I can be a part of the team someday."

Riku knelt down in front of Mickey. "You will. Trust me."

Mickey grinned gratefully. "Well, if I'm gonna be useful, then I'd better get back to my trainin'!" He hurried toward the study's door before backtracking and gingerly putting Yen Sid's hat back on the desk. He glanced at Aila and Riku, chuckling nervously. "Uh, if either of you sees Master Yen Sid, maybe don't mention this to him?"

Aila giggled before making an 'x' over her heart with her finger. "Cross our hearts."

Mickey grinned again and then scurried out the door, leaving Riku and Aila alone in the study. As soon as he was gone, a giant keyhole appeared near the windows of the study. Aila shut her eyes immediately, used to this routine by now. She heard the sound of Riku locking the Keyhole and blinked as the light receded.

Her smile fell as she looked at Riku. "Really though… where _is_ Sora? If you just locked the Keyhole… is he even on this world?"

Riku furrowed his brow and put a hand over his heart, thinking hard. "…No, I don't think he is. Not anymore." He looked up, confused. "But that was the final Keyhole, so the test should be over."

Aila chewed on her lip a little, not really believing her own suggestion of, "Maybe he already woke up…?" She was beginning to get a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something wasn't right. A fear deep within her was beginning to gnaw at her, a fear that Sora was in more trouble than she'd initially thought… The world around them began to waver and ripple, startling Aila. She took a few nervous steps toward Riku. "Wh-what is…?"

Riku grabbed her hand and she turned toward him. "We're going to fall," he said hurriedly. "Stay by me."

Aila hesitated for only a moment before nodding and tightening her fingers around his. "Okay."

The floor gave way, and in a swirling cacophony of light and color, Aila and Riku fell, hand in hand. Riku angled them down, toward a light shining below them. Somehow, Aila knew: they were heading to Sora.

Wherever he was.

She only hoped they weren't too late.

KHKHKHKH

I was super not expecting this to take up a whole chapter but somehow it did. Ha… I hope you guys liked it? I haven't really been feeling confident in my writing lately, so my apologies if anything felt clunky.

We're almost done with Dream Drop Distance! Woo! And then… KINGDOM HEARTS 2.9! Lmao XD Hooray!

Please let me know what you guys think! I seriously get such a huge confidence boost from every review, thank you all so much for taking the time to leave them, no mater how long or short. You guys are amazing.

Until next time!

~Fade


	9. Shadow

Middle of the night update sneak attack, pew pew pew!

I'm sooo sorry for taking a few extra weeks with this, everyone. I wrote about thirteen pages in the first two weeks and then… realized they were completely wrong and threw them out. So I had to start over. I'm sorry! I wrote as fast as I could!

Thank you all SO much for all the incredible reviews I've been getting, wow. I can't believe how many people are reading and taking the time to review! It's so awesome, seriously, thank you. Even just a few words makes my day. You all rock!

Before we get started, new fanart! This was drawn by the amazing and wonderful JamieTheMonster! You know the drill, remove spaces and replace dotcom with the real thing:

instagram (dotcom) /p/BvCW3vPliN0/ ?utm_source = ig_web_button_share_sheet

Thank you so much, Jamie! Aila and Riku look so adorable together!

And nowwww back to the story!

* * *

" _He leans in, resting his weathered hand on the bed. "Treat all the bad things like dreams, Kenzie. That way, no matter how scary or dark they get, you just have to survive until you wake up._ _"_

― Victoria Schwab, _The Unbound_

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Shadow**

Aila was thoroughly disoriented by the time something other than miscellaneous light and color began to take shape, she and Riku floating down hand in hand toward whatever solid ground seemed to finally be taking shape beneath them. She stumbled a little when they touched down, Riku's hand tightening slightly around hers as he helped steady her.

"Why do you seem so coordinated?" Aila mumbled to him, putting her free hand to her eyes as she tried to get her vision to stop spinning. "That was really… ngh…"

"Guess I've gotten used to it," Riku replied softly.

Aila sighed and pulled her hand out of Riku's, turning away from him and blinking rapidly as she tried to get her bearings back. She didn't want him looking at her face in case it was showing an embarrassing level of disorientation.

"Where are we now?" she heard Riku breathe, apparently looking around.

The details of the white-grey walls and floor were beginning to register with Aila, and she frowned. "Wait… this looks like… The Castle That Never Was…" She glanced at Riku, clarifying. "The Organization's base."

"Right," Riku replied slowly. "But… why are we here?" He frowned, mumbling almost to himself, "I unlocked all seven Keyholes… so I should be back in the world I came from."

Aila frowned down at her clothes. "I still look like a lollipop. So maybe this world is sleeping too?"

Riku crossed his arms. "Maybe… but even if there are more than seven Sleeping Worlds, shouldn't our test be over? Why would we keep going?"

"Maybe… if someone else wants you to keep going…" Aila suggested, a worried knot growing in her stomach. "This _is_ the Organization's world… it might make sense for Xehanort to pull us here."

Riku sighed. "Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too."

A high pitched coo was Aila's only warning before she once again had a fuzzy bat in her face, the Dream Eater snuggling just as aggressively as ever into her. "Pah! Hey!"

She pushed the bat away and it rushed over to Riku, nuzzling him as well. Riku chuckled, the bunny and panda cheering before the teens now as well. "Ah, there you guys are. Glad you're okay," Riku said sincerely. He glanced Aila's way. "This must be a Sleeping World if there are still Dream Eaters around."

Aila nodded. "I'm definitely getting a 'Xehanort interfering' vibe."

"Me too," Riku sighed. He looked down the hall. "Guess we have no choice but to keep moving… I've got a feeling Sora's close. If we can find him, maybe we can figure a way out of here."

"Sounds like a plan," Aila agreed.

They ventured down the most immediate hallway before them, and it quickly became clear that things were… off. Aila had never been great at directions, but she _had_ lived (aka been held prisoner) in this place for a little while, so she at least expected to have a vague sense of where they were after a few minutes of wandering. But with every hallway they turned down, every new room they went into, she just felt more and more lost.

"Ahhh," she groaned, slamming her staff into a multicolored horse-like creature as a way of venting her frustrations (the Nightmares here were slightly less cute than Fantasia's, but still not as ugly as she would have liked). "Why don't I recognize _any_ of these rooms?! Is my memory _that_ bad?!"

Riku finished off the last Nightmare in the area and frowned. "No, something definitely seems… off. Not that I spent as much time here as you, but…"

Aila sighed, dismissing her staff and rolling out her left shoulder, which had gotten a little run into by one of the rambunctious horses. "Maybe they rebuilt it all different after we beat Xemnas…"

Riku looked around the room thoughtfully. "Maybe…"

Aila laced her hands behind her back as their group started to continue forward down another hall. The bat was doing little happy circles around her head, Aila watching it with confused amusement. "You know, you look like a Woobat… I'm gonna call you that." The bat looked at her and beamed even wider before doing a few happy loop de loops. Aila giggled. "Glad you're on board."

"A Woobat?" Riku questioned, an eyebrow quirked.

Aila grinned at him. "It's a Pokemon! Oh man, now that would be a cool world to visit…" Something nudged her leg and Aila looked down to see the bunny trying to get her attention. It looked up at her with a hopeful expression. "You want a name too?" The bunny squealed excitedly. "Hmmm… Okay, you look like a Buneary! So now you are Buneary. We'll keep the Pokemon theme going." The bunny hopped in a few happy circles, chattering away to Woobat in some Dream Eater animal language Aila couldn't understand. She glanced at the panda, who seemed to be staring at her rather expectantly. "And you look like… ummm… Oh! Teddiursa! He's a really cute teddy bear that grows up into a powerful bear-bear! How's that?" The panda grinned. Aila glanced at Riku. "What have you been calling these guys all this time, anyway?"

Riku thought for a second and then pointed to each one. "Bat. Rabbit. Panda."

Aila laughed. "That's so lame!"

Riku smirked. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll work on my naming abilities for the future."

"Good, you better."

They both laughed before lapsing into silence. Now that there wasn't a constant musical soundtrack as they walked, Aila once again found herself starting to feel anxious. She tried to focus on the sounds of their footsteps, or on the happy noises Woobat and Buneary were making as they ventured a little ahead with Teddi, but it wasn't enough. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, trying to think of something to talk about that wouldn't just be her rambling like a crazy person to try and avoid silence. They turned a corner and Aila caught a glimpse of the city outside. A memory of the very first time she'd met Riku flashed through her head. That's right, they had met here, hadn't they…

"Can I ask you a question?"

Riku glanced her way. "Of course."

"Why'd you agree to help me, when I was trapped here? I could've just been another member of the Organization trying to get to Sora. We hadn't met before; I knew _I_ could trust _you_ because of what I knew from my world… but what made you trust me?"

Riku smiled slightly. "Honestly… you smelled different."

"…What."

Riku laughed. "Okay that sounded really weird. Let me explain. Ever since I gave into the Darkness, and especially since I started covering my eyes last year to keep Ansem at bay, my other senses… got better, I guess, but in ways I didn't expect. Darkness has a very specific smell - the Organization's members reeked of it. But you… didn't."

Aila leveled Riku with a deadpan look. "So you helped me because I didn't smell bad?"

Riku smiled again. "Kinda. But also… I don't know, I just felt like you needed my help. You seemed… genuine. And if you weren't an Organization member, I couldn't just leave you with them." His smile vanished and he looked away. "To be honest, I did mention you to DiZ, to see if he'd heard anything about a girl in the Organization, just to be sure… When I described you, he looked like he'd seen a ghost. But then he acted like he didn't know you at all. I didn't know your name yet, so maybe he thought I was just describing someone similar, and he was trying to convince himself of that. I felt like he knew more than he was telling me, but trusted that if he _did_ know you, he would have warned me if my instincts about you had been wrong. So, I helped you."

Aila thought about that for a minute before responding. "Ansem… or, um, DiZ, I mean… Was he angry that I was here?"

"Not… angry. Once I knew your name and saw you use your powers and relayed that all to him, he couldn't deny who you were anymore. He seemed… upset. Sad, maybe. And I guess maybe a little angry at himself. But not angry at you." Riku glanced at Aila again, his expression a little guarded now. "You knew each other a long time ago… Do you… remember anything else, from back then?"

"No," Aila sighed, shaking her head. "I just have one memory of him playing a piano for me and Danny… it's practically nothing. And also that one scary one of everything burning down and him sending us away… But still… I kinda miss him. Is that super weird?"

"It's not weird," Riku replied softly. He paused. "Do you… _want_ to remember anything else from that time?"

Aila looked up at the ceiling. "…I don't know. What if that only makes me miss him more?" She unlaced her hands from behind her back and looked down, fiddling with her gloves. "I guess I kinda wanna know where I came from, though. I thought I was from my world, and that I was pulled off of it and into all this by accident. But I guess it was kinda the other way around. So I'm curious… a little…" She smiled nervously at Riku. "I thought maybe he'd have some more notes about us in his office… I tore that place apart. Either he's really bad at taking notes, or they were destroyed or something I guess. So lame." Buneary trilled to get Aila's attention and Aila held her arms open to allow it to hop into them. She hugged it and smiled. "Maybe Tron will find something! All the files are so corrupted, but he's making a little headway I think… I'm sure a lot of them aren't recoverable, but maybe something… Even just a name would be cool, you know?"

"A name of a world…?"

"Or a person. I mean, there was probably some kind of documentation about the rest of my family, right?"

Riku focused on the path before them. "Right. You want to know who your parents are…"

Aila chewed on her lip for a second. "Mmhmm… Don't tell Danny or Alex though, okay? They'll think that I want to like, replace our parents who adopted us… Which I don't! No way! I love them so much, and I miss them all the time. I just… I just like to know things. There's no harm in knowing, right?" Aila nodded, not waiting for Riku to reply as she tried to convince herself. "Yeah, that's okay. It's just nice to know things like that. We were found all alone on our world so it was always assumed we were abandoned, that someone just didn't want us. Maybe it would feel better to know if…" She trailed off, not sure how to finish that thought. She glanced at Riku. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling a lot. I've been doing that too much since Celina stopped talking. Sorry…"

"Don't apologize," Riku replied. He smiled lightly. "It's nice to get to know you a little better. We haven't really had a chance yet."

Aila grinned. "Well that's because _someone_ kept being all 'silent protector' and would run off any time we bumped into you last year. Didn't even wait around for a thank you when you helped us out! What've you got to say for yourself, hm, hmmmm?"

Riku clicked his tongue. "Throwing me under the bus? Hn, I knew saving you from falling off that cliff in the Land of Dragons was gonna come back to bite me…"

"Hey!"

Aila laughed, Riku chuckling lightly as well. This was nice. Aila was once again struck by how easy Riku was to talk to, which was really surprising. She wasn't sure why she had expected him to be… maybe standoffish? Or super serious? Or maybe just too cool for her. But, she supposed, he _was_ Sora's best friend in the whole universe, so him actually being kinda fun and easygoing underneath his more serious exterior shouldn't have been a surprise at all.

They finally made it to an outdoor corridor and Aila took a curious glance up toward the sky. Her face scrunched up with unsettled wary - there was no moon, no stars, just a layer of reddish clouds over a pitch black sky. "Yikes…"

"You can say that again," Riku breathed, looking increasingly suspicious. He closed his eyes and, after a moment of thought, he started forward again with new determination. "Come on - I think Sora's close."

Aila nodded, hurrying to keep up. "I hope so… I'm starting to get worried…"

"Me too."

They fought their way through a few more groups of Nightmares, including some very large and vicious sabertooth tigers and colorful lions that were frustratingly challenging to finish off. And also dinosaurs. Freaking. _Dinosaurs_. By the time they managed to climb their way to the top of the castle (using some terrifying flowmotion techniques that Aila still had no clue how she'd survived), Aila was pretty over this whole dream world situation. Sora had better be close so they could all finally get the heck out of here! She was trying not to do any complaining out loud, but her face must have given her frustration away, because Riku kept assuring her that Sora was definitely close.

The platform they'd made their way to seemed to be one of the highest points of the castle, though again, it wasn't very familiar. Riku led them toward a short staircase that led down to a large circular area surrounded by thick pillars, Aila momentarily distracted by the architecture. It was pretty.

"Is that…" Riku breathed, getting Aila's attention. She followed his gaze and gasped.

"Sora?"

It definitely _was_ Sora; he was a little younger than he should be, but that tracked with what Riku had said about how they'd begun their test. He was floating about a foot off the ground at the far end of the platform, encased in some kind of clear bubble. Aila's heart leapt into her throat - Sora was very still. His eyes were closed. And Darkness was twisting around the bubble holding him.

"Sora!" Riku shouted, immediately rushing toward his friend, Aila hot on his heels. They stopped before Sora and Aila realized that the bubble actually wasn't entirely clear after all. Various images were flickering in and out of view along the bubble's surface: Riku and Kairi walking away together, Pluto running away, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy running away… Aila's eyes widened as she even spotted herself, in her usual outfit, running away… Was this… something Sora was seeing? Was he watching everyone leave him…? Now that she was closer it seemed clear that Sora was asleep, which was somewhat of a relief. Maybe this bubble was projecting what he was dreaming about?

Riku seemed at a loss for a few seconds before reaching out and grabbing Sora's wrist, attempting to pull his friend out of the bubble. But Sora wouldn't budge. Riku pulled a few more times, seeming wary about hurting Sora, but at the same time very aware that he needed to get him out of… whatever this was. "Sora! Don't! You've gotta wake up! Sora!"

Aila bounced nervously from foot to foot, watching the images flickering in and out of focus on the bubble. The projection of her had stopped running, but now it looked like she was crying. She didn't like seeing herself like that… Sora didn't think she was weak and crying all the time, right…?

Skirting around the bubble so she was face to face with Sora, Aila reaching into the bubble as well to grab his other arm. A chill went down her spine as her skin made contact with the bubble, a heavy unease settling in her heart. Her fingers tightened around Sora's wrist. "Come on Sora, snap out of it! Whatever you're seeing… it's not real, okay? Wake up!"

The Darkness swirling around the bubble suddenly picked up speed, the dark tendrils stinging Aila as they brushed against her and forcing her to release Sora and back away. Riku didn't seem as affected, his grip only tightening on Sora as he watched the Darkness suspiciously. The tendrils began to pull away from the bubble, pooling a few feet away on the platform and leaving the bubble and Sora behind. A form began to take shape into a being wearing what seemed to be an Organization coat, but with pinkish-purple designs decorating its sleeves and lower half. The top of the coat was zipped up as high as it would go, so that the only thing visible beneath the being's hood were a pair of perfectly round, glowing red eyes. This wasn't an Organization member - it didn't even really seem human…

Riku finally released Sora and turned to face this new creature. "Are you what's trapping him in that nightmare?!" Riku asked, summoning his Keyblade and falling into a fighting stance. "Cause if you are… I'm what nightmares fear!"

Aila blinked. Whoa. Riku was so cool…

"Try to get him out of there," Riku whispered, glancing quickly over his shoulder at Aila.

Aila startled back to attention. "Uh, r-right!"

Riku's Dream Eaters fell into line beside him and the Organization creature lunged, Darkness swirling around its legs and keeping it afloat just above the floor. A weapon materialized in its hand as it slashed at the group, all of them managing to dodge the hit. Buneary struck with its ears before scurrying to the other side of the platform, regrouping with Riku and the others. It seemed like they were trying to draw this thing away from Aila and Sora. It worked, the Nightmare lunging after them all, and Aila tore her eyes away from the battle to focus on Sora again.

With renewed determination, she reached into the bubble and grabbed one of Sora's wrists with both hands, pulling as hard as she could. "Come… on! Sora, it would be super helpful if you woke up riiiiight… now!" But Sora didn't stir, and the bubble was holding him so firmly in place that Aila was barely able to budge him with even her strongest pull. She relented after a few seconds, letting out a frustrated breath. Okay, brute force wasn't gonna do anything. New strategy.

She thought hard, studying Sora's face. He looked pretty peaceful, but if he really was having a nightmare right now… well, she knew how bad those could be. Maybe she could startle him out of it? But not with anything scary or bad, she didn't want to add to his nightmare… She gasped dramatically, shaking Sora's arm a few times. "Oh my gosh, Sora! Hercules and Meg are _engaged_! She's finally not in denial, we have to go celebrate!"

Nothing.

"Uhhh oh! Nala had her baby and they want you to be the lion godfather! Gasp, such an honor!"

Still no reaction.

"Um um um… Kairi has a paopu fruit for you?!"

Not even a muscle twitch.

Aila relaxed her grip again, frowning deeply. "Jeez, you're really asleep…"

A red glow beneath Aila's feet was the only warning she got that she was suddenly in danger, her hands releasing Sora's arm and Light bursting from her fingers to form a hasty shield on almost pure instinct. Four streams of red energy shot out of the floor around her, arcing down toward her head in an attempt to skewer her. She managed to intercept by angling her Light shield over her head, but the impact from the attack was more than a little jarring.

With a yell, she willed her shield to push against the red streams and, thankfully, the energy dispersed. She sighed in relief, her shield fading, only for her to immediately summon her staff and raise it just in time to catch the weapon that was slicing down toward her. The resounding _clang_ hurt her ears, her arms shaking ever so slightly as she pushed back with her staff against what seemed to be a sword made of pure Darkness. The Organization coat wearing Nightmare stared down at her, its lifeless, beady red eyes boring into her from beneath its hood.

"I'm… a little… busy!" Aila managed to get out through clenched teeth. The Nightmare's eyes darted to Sora over Aila's shoulder before landing back on her, its hands tightening around its sword as it pushed even harder, trying to get Aila to fall. Aila tightened her own grip and dug her heels into the floor. "I'm sorry, do you not want me to wake him?! Well _tough_! THUNDER!"

A lightning bolt cracked above the Nightmare's head, the creature forced to leap back just in time to avoid being hit by Aila's spell. The Nightmare slid to a stop, its Organization boots scuffing the white floor as is planted its heels, seeming prepared to leap toward Aila again. But then Teddiursa was barreling into it, forcing the Nightmare to retreat even more.

Aila straightened up and did a little victory hop. "Yay! Go Teddi!"

Riku skidded in front of her with his weapon poised, Buneary on his shoulder. He glanced quickly back at her. "Sorry - got away from me for a second. You good?"

Aila flashed a thumbs up. "Super!"

"Any change?"

"No, nothing's working…"

"Keep trying."

He dashed off to go help Teddi and Aila turned back toward the still sleeping Sora. She glanced nervously back toward the battle, deciding not to dismiss her staff just yet. "That thing really wants to keep you trapped in a nightmare," she sighed, biting her lip as she looked up at Sora. Her eyes darted to the images fading in and out around the bubble again - they still showed everyone either walking or running away, including a couple of people that Aila didn't recognize.

A hint of a memory lit in Aila's heart of seeing Sora, Kairi, and Riku walking away from her… at her old school? With Brina? When the heck would that have happened? Maybe she'd had her own dream about that at some point… Dream or no, even just barely remembering that image hurt, like needles pricking her heart. She looked up at Sora's face again. "It's not real," she whispered earnestly, her heart aching with the thought that Sora might be feeling that same hurt in his dream. "We would never leave you, Sora. You've gotta know those people running from you, they're not really us. Stop chasing them. We're right here. Please… you have to wake up now, okay?"

For a single moment, Aila thought she saw the images around the bubble waver, like they were videos that were buffering for a second. But then they were moving again, just the same as before. Aila sighed, her brow furrowed in frustration. She glanced toward the battle again - it looked like Riku had the Nightmare on the run now. Was that why the images had flickered? Or had Sora… heard her…?

A high pitched coo to her left startled her, Woobat suddenly by her side. "Oh, hey… You don't happen to have any ideas, do you?"

The bat looked at her and let out a light trill, its expression very sad. It turned back toward Sora and leaned its head against the bubble, closing its eyes. It stayed like that for a moment before sharply pulling away with a pained sound, as if it had been shocked.

"Are you okay?!" Aila gasped. Woobat shook out its fur and pouted, but otherwise seemed fine. Curious, Aila returned her attention to the bubble. She'd so far been reaching all the way through it to touch Sora directly - would something different happen if she tried focusing on the bubble itself? Gingerly, she reached out a hand, resting her fingertips ever so gently on the bubble's surface. At first it just felt like air. But then…

Confusion. Anger. Frustration. Despair. Emotion after emotion struck Aila like electricity, shocking through her fingertips and into her heart. Her eyes widened and her muscles all jolted, like her body wanted to pull away, but she forced her hand to stay. Somehow, she just knew… this was what _Sora_ was feeling! And on top of it all, exhaustion… he was fighting right now! He was fighting someone, but he was fading fast, every breath agony as he fought the urge to fall.

Aila felt tears prick behind her lashes. "Sora!" she called, her voice breaking on his name. "Sora, I'm here! Don't give up! Please!" She dismissed her staff and placed her other hand on the bubble, looking desperately at Sora's deceptively calm, sleeping face. "What do you need?! I'll give you strength! Take it! I know you can win!" She had no idea who he could be fighting, but her bones seemed to vibrate as weapons clashed somewhere beyond her reach.

She tried to imagine the feeling of going into a Drive Form, of the way her heart would connect to Sora's to lend him her power. She shut her eyes, her teeth clenched as she focused as hard as she could. For just a moment, she thought she could see him, flashes of him, facing… someone. Xemnas? Was that what form his nightmare was taking? Sora was on one knee, breathing hard. Aila tearily called his name again, trying with everything she had to give him some kind of power. His shoulders straightened. He glanced upward, his brow furrowed in confusion. Aila thought she saw him mouth a question, but it was too blurry for her to really see, and she couldn't hear anything… Sora's grip tightened on his Keyblade, and he stood.

"Yes!" Aila gasped, a spark of determination breaking through all the negative emotions she could feel. "Come on, come on…!"

Suddenly the image of Sora was cut off, replaced by the white haired stranger from before. His yellow eyes were narrowed, his brow furrowed in what seemed to be mild annoyance. _"Keep your light to yourself."_

Aila screamed as she was thrown backwards by some massive shock, her body tumbling across the white floor a little ways before coming to a painful stop. She groaned, pushing herself onto her knees and shaking stars from her eyes. A worried trill made her aware that Woobat had followed her, presumably to make sure she was okay. She reached out and put a hand on its fluffy body, grateful to have someone within reach to ground her a little.

"Aila!"

Aila looked up just as Riku knelt down at her side, though she had to blink _really_ hard to keep from seeing two of him.

"What happened?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Aila shook her head one more time, trying to keep her vision straight. "Sora's fighting someone! I… I saw him; not this him but another him, for just a second! But then I got… blasted away…" She put a hand to her head. "I feel… really confused…" She looked around, noticing Teddi and Buneary at her side as well. "Where's the coat monster thing?"

"Gone," Riku breathed, looking back at Sora with great concern. He stood and walked toward Sora's sleeping form, stopping a few feet away from him. "Sora… don't chase the dreams. They'll lead you nowhere, just to an abyss you'll never be able to wake up from."

Aila watched him, feeling at a loss. Even with the Nightmare defeated… Sora was still sleeping? Why? What else did they need to do to help him wake up?

In a flash, Sora and the bubble holding him vanished, both Riku and Aila gasping in alarm. Aila tried to stand but was sent off balance as her vision seemed to go haywire again, everything around her blurring and wavering in a completely dizzying display.

"What?" Riku gasped, looking around, and Aila realized with a start that it wasn't her vision that was going haywire - it was the place itself. Their surroundings solidified, but now they seemed to be down in the city outside the castle, in front of the big neon skyscraper. "What's going on in Sora's world?" Riku breathed as their surroundings switched again, back to the platform they'd originally been on, though a very wavy version of it. Aila was starting to feel nauseous just looking at all the wavy pillars. Riku turned, his brow knitted with deep concern. "Why won't he open his eyes?! Is he still in the nightmare?!"

" **That is right."**

Aila gasped at the new voice, the Dream Eaters around her letting out quiet, nervous noises as they all searched for the source.

Riku gasped as well, turning so his back was to Aila. "Ansem!"

Ansem? Aila's eyes widened as recognition of the voice registered in her mind. Not Ansem the Wise - no, this was Xehanort's Heartless, or, as he preferred to be called, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. The fake Ansem.

" **Sora can no longer wake up,"** fake Ansem said, though he still wasn't showing himself. **"No matter how many nightmares you consume, you cannot wake someone who has fallen into the chasm of dreams."**

"What?" Riku snapped, having fallen into a battle stance in preparation for a sneak attack, his eyes darting around the platform in search of any sign of movement.

" **Dreams hold our memories. Sleep holds our dreams. And darkness - it holds our sleep. Sora's heart belongs to the Darkness now."**

Aila felt her mouth go dry. "What?!"

"Sora would never give in to the Darkness!" Riku snapped.

" **But you feel it, don't you? This world, the nightmare, the abyss. Why haven't you returned to the reality whence you came?"**

Aila glanced around at the still very unstable platform, worry growing in her heart. What exactly was this guy trying to say…? That this… was all a nightmare, too?

"No," Riku gasped quietly, seeming to come to a similar conclusion as he too took another look around. " _This_ is a…"

" **Dream of a dream. A twofold nightmare. This whole journey, you have been inside Sora's dreams."**

"What?!" Aila gasped, sitting back on her heels and putting a hand to her head. She had thought she'd followed Riku into all the Sleeping Worlds, but… had she just followed him into Sora's dream instead?! But how could Riku have even done that?! She zeroed in on the Dream Eater symbol on the back of his jacket again, realization hitting her like a truck. Not just _anyone_ wore that symbol in here - only _Dream Eaters_. Somehow, Riku had become a Dream Eater too… And so the reason the castle's layout was so weird, it was because this wasn't a Sleeping World at all - it was just Sora's dream version of the world! He didn't know it well enough for it to be accurate…!

" **And now Darkness within Darkness awaits you."**

Riku's panicked yell shook Aila from her dumbstruck state, Darkness pooling at the boy's feet. "What?!" he gasped as the purple-tinted shadows began to suck him down into the floor. He tried pulling at his legs, but the Darkness was already up to his knees. "No! I-I can't get loose!"

"Riku!" Aila called, scrambling to her feet. She very nearly fell right back down, their surroundings still wavering back and forth between the platform and the street and causing a _very_ dizzying effect. The Dream Eaters seemed to be having trouble too, all three of them stumbling as they tried to make their way to Riku.

Locking her eyes on Riku, Aila took a breath and ran forward, trying to block out her surroundings and just trust her feet to keep pushing off the unsteady. Riku was being pulled down at an alarming rate, the Darkness now up to his shoulders. Aila lunged as his head was pulled underneath the shadows, just barely missing his hand as his fingers disappeared into the pool of Darkness. She landed hard on the ground right as the shadows dispersed, taking Riku with them and leaving no trace behind.

Aila slammed a clenched fist on the ground. " _Damn it_!" Pushing herself to her knees, she pressed both palms against the cool white floor, glaring at the spot Riku had just been. She came in here to protect him, and the second he was in trouble she let him slip away. Her fingers tensed against the marble. Why hadn't she gotten up faster?! She should have as soon as she heard fake Ansem's voice!

"Yikes, that was embarrassing."

Aila startled, her head whipping to the right as she searched for whoever had just spoken. Her surroundings had settled back into the platform at the top of the castle, no longer wavering… but now there was someone new here.

A boy was sitting very casually on the white wall that encircled the platform, one leg dangling over the edge, the other bent, his arm resting on his knee. A tight black bodysuit seemed almost fused to his skin, with blood red accents that looked vaguely like veins along his chest and hands. Deep red belts wrapped around the boy's waist, holding some dark blue fabric in place that looked a bit like a cape, but only around his hips and upper legs. It kind of reminded Aila of the outfit Riku had worn in the first game when the fake Ansem had taken over his body… Did the fake Ansem have something to do with this guy, then? That thought immediately made Aila wary. A shiny black helmet covered the boy's entire face, so she couldn't make out any actual features he might have had - how could he even see through such tinted glass…?

It was hard to tell since she couldn't see his eyes, but Aila was pretty sure this boy was looking right at her, apparently having been casually watching her for… uh, how long had he been there? He cocked his head, and then spoke again. "You're in over your head, aren't you?" His voice sounded… kinda familiar, but also kinda not. If she had to guess, this boy was maybe a couple years older than herself, and a lot of sarcasm oozed from his every word. "You should leave the hero junk to people who are actually qualified - you look like a kid playing pretend."

Aila narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"

The boy breathed out a short laugh. "What, you don't like a little mystery?"

"No."

The boy hopped off the wall, the soles of his dark red boots landing easily on the white floor. "Vanitas. And you're Aila. Or am I talking to Celina…?" Aila was taken aback. This boy knew her name? And he knew about Celina, too? He chuckled again. "No, I can tell from your deer in a headlights expression - I'm not talking to any wise old Spirit. Just a stupid little girl. Right?"

Woobat, Buneary, and Teddi all hurried to Aila's side, facing the stranger - Vanitas, apparently - with a protective determination. Aila herself stood up, glaring hard at the boy and trying to keep her nervousness under wraps. "Where's Riku?"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about him," Vanitas replied with what sounded like an easy smile. "Let's talk about you."

Aila fought the urge to take a step back - something about this guy… she really didn't want to be too close to him. She clenched her fists. "No. Where's. Riku."

Vanitas let out an annoyed sigh. "Why should you care about some guy you hardly know? Worry about yourself. I came all the way in here to talk about _you_ , not about him."

"Well I don't wanna talk about me!" Aila shot back, getting frustrated. Who even was this guy?! Riku might be in a lot of trouble right now, not to mention Sora was _definitely_ in trouble! She didn't have time to have a chat with some new guy!

Vanitas shrugged. "Have it your way." He held out his right hand, a weapon appearing there in a flash of Darkness. Aila's jaw dropped - it was a Keyblade. Its length was made of a sharp, silver metal held together with heavy steal chains and a single golden gear inlaid in the very middle. Both the blade and handle ends were made up of broken pieces of black and red gears, and the Keychain dangling from the handle seemed to be made of various golden gear parts. Unsettlingly, two blue eyes with catlike pupils were also inlaid in the Keyblade, one near the handle and one near the blade, unblinking and glassy.

Vanitas took a step forward. "You wanna skip the talking part? Fine by me."

This time Aila couldn't help but take a step back, her heart giving a fearful thud. She didn't know what this guy wanted… but he oozed danger, and the way he carried himself just screamed that he knew how to handle himself in a fight. And he was a Keyblader?! How?! Why hadn't she ever heard of him before?!

Her Dream Eater companions sprung into action, all three of them charging the boy - they must have sensed how dangerous he was as well. Seeming entirely unfazed, Vanitas lifted his free hand. A pulse like a heartbeat erupted from him, a circle of Darkness rocketing outward from his body and hitting the Dream Eaters with surprising force. All three of the animals went flying, tumbling across the platform in various directions at alarming speeds.

Aila gasped. "No!" she shouted, whipping her head one way and then another to watch where her new friends stopped. Were they okay?! None of them were getting up! She turned back toward Vanitas only to feel her breath catch in her throat as she realized the tip of his Keyblade was just centimeters from her nose.

"Having second thoughts?" Vanitas taunted. Aila could only see her own terrified face reflected in the visor of his helmet. He cocked his head curiously. "You're not what I expected… You don't seem special at all."

Aila summoned her staff and leapt back, putting maybe a couple of meters of space between herself and Vanitas. Not a lot, but at least enough that she could fall into a defensive stance, ready to parry an attack. Should she run…? Run where? Back into this incorrect castle? What if everything started going all wavy again? And what if a way to get to Riku and Sora reopened here, but she ran off before she could use it? She had to stay in case a way opened to them!

Vanitas lowered his Keyblade with a scoff. "I guess _you're_ not the special one… In more ways than one, right?" He laughed like he'd just made a joke, but Aila didn't get it. "Poor thing… If it's not one person's shadow you're living in, it's another, right? But take it from me - living in shadows doesn't have to be a bad thing."

"What are you even-"

"Ah ah ah," Vanitas said, wagging a finger at her. "I thought you didn't want to talk?"

"You're the one who won't shut up!"

Vanitas laughed again. "Aw man, you're fun. The way the old man talks about her I thought you'd be too bright to even look at, but nah - you've got plenty of darkness blotting that out." Aila felt her glare deepen. Vanitas continued, "What, did I offend you or something? You don't like darkness?"

In the blink of an eye Vanitas had closed the gap between them again, his fingers wrapping around the collar of her jacket before she could even process that he'd moved.

He leaned in too close, the glass of his helmet just millimeters from Aila's face as he whispered, "Are you afraid of the dark…?"

And then Aila was on the ground, having been thrown down so quickly that she only felt the impact after she'd already hit. The wind was knocked out of her, her lungs temporarily paralyzed as she tried to remember how to breathe. She tried to sit up, but a pressure on her chest stopped her - Vanitas had the tip of his Keyblade resting on her, the pressure just enough to keep her from rising.

"You didn't think you were full of light, did you? You're not a Princess of Heart. Not even close." He put the tiniest bit more pressure on his Keyblade. Aila, still trying to regain the breath she'd lost, wrapped her fingers around the blade in a weak attempt at some sort of defense as he continued, "Spirits are all about balance, right? So if Celina is a Spirit of Light, it would make sense for her to pick a heart that balances that Light out, right? Maybe one that's actually filled with Darkness…"

"Sh-shut up!" Aila choked out, gripping the Keyblade with both hands now and trying to push it away. But Vanitas wouldn't budge. She glared up at him. "What do you want?!"

"I want you out of the way," Vanitas replied calmly. "You're a distraction. They deny it, but I can tell - you'll be a problem. They can't separate you from her in their minds, not completely. Our plans would go much smoother with you out of the picture." He sighed dramatically. "It is a shame, though, now that I'm here… You have so much potential. I guess I shouldn't be surprised; the brighter the light, the deeper the shadows, after all. And the shadows in you run _so_ deeply…" He crouched down at her side, still holding his Keyblade firmly in place as he reached toward her face with his free hand. "Maybe I _can_ understand what he saw in someone like you…"

" **Vanitas."**

A dark portal appeared and the white haired young man from Fantasia stepped out of it, looking unamused.

Vanitas stood, withdrawing his Keyblade rather reluctantly. "Hn… Done already…? That was quick." Aila sat up and scurried back a little ways, scrambling to her feet and summoning her fallen staff back to her. Her eyes darted between the two enemies, her breathing hard and fast. They both glanced her way, but neither made a move to attack.

The white haired man returned his attention to Vanitas. "What are you doing here?"

Vanitas shrugged. "Just having a conversation."

"Really…"

"What, you don't believe me? The rest of you were all busy - someone had to entertain the tag-along…"

The white haired stranger narrowed his eyes. "I'll take things from here. Go wait until you're needed."

Vanitas's stance shifted ever so slightly, his shoulders a little stiffer than they had just been. "…You sure give a lot of orders…"

"Because I am in charge."

Vanitas scoffed. "Not yet you're not. You've got about half a century of growing up to do before you're anything close to my boss."

The stranger took a step toward Vanitas, his chin held with an air of pride. "Regardless of when I came from, I am Xehanort. Do you understand? You will show me the same respect you show to my future self, Vanitas. Or are we going to have a problem?"

Aila felt like her mind's processing power had just come crashing to a halt, her eyes now locked onto the white haired man. What… the… WHAT?! _This_ was… Xehanort?! He said his future self, so… so was this him from the past? How? And why? And WHAT?!

Vanitas clicked his tongue in annoyance, but dismissed his Keyblade anyway. "Nope, no problems… If you wanna handle everything yourself, then be my guest… _boss_." He glanced briefly Aila's way before adding, "Just don't lose sight of our goal. She's dead. Get over it."

Young Xehanort crossed his arms, his gaze steely. "I know that. Do you even understand why we're doing this? Perhaps that helmet of yours is too thick…"

"'Course I know why… Let me know when _you've_ finally figured it out, because I'm not convinced you understand anything yet."

"Just go."

"Whatever you say, _sir_ …" Vanitas turned to Aila with a little salute. "Another time, shadow girl…" He created a portal of Darkness, and then he was gone.

Young Xehanort sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What a nuisance…"

Aila raised her staff and took a wary step back. "Are you… are you really… Xehanort?"

Young Xehanort looked at her, his brow furrowed in slight confusion. "Why would you continue to play dumb? Surely Celina has told you by now." His eyes widened a little. "Unless… She is somehow… unable to…?"

Aila felt her shoulders shake slightly with fear, but she quickly tightened them to try and hide the movement. If Xehanort realized that she wasn't able to feel Celina anymore, he would know she was basically wandering around grasping at straws when it came to her powers right now, and that would probably be _really_ bad. "Sh-she did! I just… I just didn't believe her! How could you be Xehanort? You must just be… pretending to be him! He's super old, and… and you being here would mean… It would mean…!"

"That I traveled forward in time," Young Xehanort finished for her, facing her fully now. "I'm sure you know the story - my future self became separated into a Nobody, Xemnas, and a Heartless, who your friends knew as Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Ansem cast away his bodily form, and traveled back in time to set me on my appointed path. Reduced to just a heart, he showed me the truth, and brought me to this time, to be one of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness needed to awaken Kingdom Hearts once again. After all, who better to fill those spots than other versions of myself…?"

Aila just blinked at him, trying to process this information. "So… you… really _are_ from the past…?"

"Yes. I will eventually return to that time, with no memory of any of this. But my heart will still remember, and it will guide me along the path I am destined to take."

Aila shook her head. "Whatever! I don't have time for this! Where are Sora and Riku?!"

Young Xehanort frowned. "Riku is being dealt with. And as for Sora… he belongs to us now."

Aila's eyes widened. "What…? W-what does that mean?!"

"We have been watching you all very closely since you defeated the old Organization XIII. We knew that, eventually, Sora and Riku would need to be tested, so that they might master the Power of Waking - something they'll no doubt need as they try to rescue the other Keybladers who fell before them. Such a test presented us with the perfect opportunity. You see, we were still one Seeker of Darkness short. At first, I thought Riku would be the one we needed - his heart is always teetering right on the edge, after all. But when the test began and we attempted to separate the two, he sensed something was wrong, and dove into Sora's dream on instinct. From that point on, he became a Dream Eater, determined to protect Sora from Nightmares. That was when I realized - he has developed some amount of immunity to the Darkness, and as a result is somehow able to keep it locked up tight inside of him. He was simply not malleable enough for our needs, not anymore. But Sora… Sora, it turns out, is a perfect fit. His heart, so open and accepting, steers him too blindly down dangerous paths, and so he walked right into our clutches. And now he wanders, lost in a nightmare. Forever. With not a single spark of hope left in his heart."

"Liar! I saw him stand up!" Aila shouted. "He was fighting back! He almost lost, but then… but then I know he kept fighting, I saw it! I felt his hope, I _know_ he won!"

"He won a meaningless fight," Xehanort replied calmly. "The fact of the matter is, he was already in too deep - there was no waking up from such a deep abyss. He may have 'won' one single, tiny victory, but doing so took every last bit of strength he had - and now, he is ready. He will become the final Seeker of Darkness. Once my future self transfers a piece of himself into Sora's heart, there will be no going back. He is ours."

Aila felt like her entire world froze. No… Sora… They were going to put part of Xehanort's heart in him…?

If they did that, then the Sora she knew would be…

No.

With a scream, she charged the young man before her, swinging her staff as hard as she could. Young Xehanort held up his right hand and summoned a weapon to himself, parrying her easily. Aila only barely registered that he too had summoned a Keyblade - teal and black with extremely sharp looking points and angles and an analogue golden clock face inlaid in the blade, an hourglass Keychain dangling from the dark handle. She tried to hit him a few more times, but he intercepted every strike with maddening ease. She was NOT going to let this guy take Sora! She couldn't!

"I'll bring Sora back!" she cried fiercely, her staff colliding with Young Xehanort's Keyblade again and again. Her heart thudded with determination, and her surroundings began to waver. She stumbled but managed not to lose her footing entirely, despite the way the floor was flickering beneath her feet. She pointed her staff at Xehanort and felt her eyes flash with her anger. "He's not yours to use for some twisted plan! I don't care who you are! I'll fight you and your stupid older self, and I'll bring him back to us!" Her heart thudded again, and her surroundings flickered to show the street with the skyscraper before changing back to the platform. She felt a pull in her chest, similar to how it felt right before she was pulled into a Drive Form, when her heart would search for Sora's to combine with. Everything flickered again, the street even more clear this time. Something in her told her that _that_ was where she needed to be - that she would find Sora there. With a gasp of realization, she put her free hand over her heart, trying to focus on the feeling of being pulled. Sora's heart was pulling her out of here - to wherever he was! It just had to be!

Young Xehanort narrowed his eyes. "You are wasting your time - there's nothing left to save."

Aila glared hard at him. "You're wrong," she breathed before pressing her hand into her chest even harder and surrendering herself to the force trying to guide her heart, just like she would when going into Master Form. She saw Young Xehanort begin to rush her, but before he could take more than two steps he vanished along with the entire platform, this time, it seemed, for good.

Aila gasped as her new surroundings settled, the neon skyscraper towering before her against a pitch black sky. The tug on her heart subsided and she straightened up, looking frantically in all directions. "Sora?! Sora, where are you?!"

"Aila?"

Aila turned, relief flooding through her at the sight of a very much unharmed Riku, who was standing a little closer to the skyscraper. "Riku! You're okay! How'd you get here?!"

Riku blinked, and then put a hand over his heart. "I followed Sora, and wound up here."

Aila nodded vigorously. "Me too! But I don't see him… Riku, he's in big trouble, we have to find him!"

Riku closed the distance between them and placed his hands on her shoulders. "We will. He's here somewhere, I know it." He glanced around. "I think… maybe we're finally out of the dream."

Aila blinked, examining herself and Riku. They were still in their dream outfits. "But… you still look younger, and our clothes…"

Riku removed his hands from her shoulders and frowned up at the skyscraper. "I know, but… still. I think this is the real deal." He met her gaze. "Normally I think we would have woken up back at Master Yen Sid's tower, where our bodies are. But we followed our hearts to Sora, because he needs us right now. So, our bodies are still back where we left them, but our hearts are here."

Aila examined her hands warily. "So… what, you think we're like… astral projecting or something?" Her body looked solid enough…

"Yeah, something like that…"

Aila considered that for another second before balling her fists and nodding. "Whatever, I don't care how we're here, we have to find Sora!"

"Right," Riku agreed. He faced the street that led past the skyscraper and nodded once before starting down it, Aila right behind him. "Sora's gotta be here… somewhere."

KHKHKHKH

(FYI: I wanted to name the panda Pancham, but Aila left her world/our world in 2011 and Pancham didn't exist yet. Womp womp. So, Teddiursa it is.)

I hope this chapter was okay… I was kind of scrambling to get this done since it was taking so long and my days just kept being so busy. I will try so hard not to let usual updates take a whole month, I promise. I really am trying my hardest to keep this updating for you all!

Some more big stuff got set up in this chapter! I feel like I'm just using Dream Drop to set up literally all of my plots and themes I have planned haha… But Dream Drop is nearly done, so we'll get past all the setup very soon! I'm trying to keep it interesting, I hope I'm succeeding! Please leave a review to let me know if you're liking it~

Well, it's like 2:30 am for me sooo I'm gonna sleep now. Thank you so much for reading! I'll do my very best to see you all in two weeks. Until then, have a wonderful day!

~Fade


	10. Thirteen

Hiii. I'm sorry for the wait again! I was writing and writing and writing and writing and then I realized I was over 40 pages in and still not done… which is just way too long for one chapter. So, um, I'm splitting it in half so that I can update today lol. I REALLY wanted this to be the last Dream Drop chapter but gosh darn it, there's just too much info to cram in here. So we've got ONE more after this.

The good news is that the next one is almost entirely written! So I can post that in two weeks and then WE CAN FINALLY MOVE ON TO KH3!

Dream Drop is the most confusing mess of information and I almost died trying to get it all to make sense on paper. So um… yeah. I did my best. I hate time travel.

Also, so sorry that it took me forever to reply to reviews and PMs! I'll be better for this chapter! This month has been crazy busy.

FANART! Deadlyfatguy has shared this awesome speed drawing video of a drawing of Aila being created, and I love it! Follow this link to watch: youtu. be /vvSlpM5-ARY

You can also see the finished piece here! deviantart (dotcom) /thedeadlyfatguy/art/Allia-794435783

You all know the drill, remove spaces and parentheses and put dots in the right spots, so on and so forth. THANK YOU for the art, Deadly! You rock!

And now, here we go!

* * *

" _There were dragons, in his dreams, as though some part of him knew the trials were not yet over, that there were battles yet to be fought. He slept fitfully, fidgeting, tossing and turning, groaning and crying out in his sleep._ _"_

― Barry Lyga, _Lucky Day_

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Thirteen**

Aila had never felt so fidgety in her whole life.

She was making a point of darting to the opening of every alleyway and using her glowing eye trick to thoroughly check down each one, just in case Sora (or someone less friendly than Sora) happened to be hiding in some dark corner. So far, though, she was finding a whole lot of nothing.

A groan escaped her after yet another alleyway came up empty. It took a good amount of energy to resist slamming her head against the cement wall; that probably wouldn't do anyone any good.

"We'll find him," Riku assured yet again, tapping a door with his Keyblade and quickly checking inside. He, too, apparently found nothing, his brow furrowed as he shut the door again. "…You know where he probably is."

Aila groaned again and ran both hands through her bangs in exasperation. "That's where they'll WANT us to go; it's totally a trap."

"I know. But it's looking like we're gonna have to just… walk into it."

"I was really hoping they'd _actually_ hid Sora somewhere else and we'd outsmart them by finding him _without_ going to the castle…"

"Yeah, me too. But this place isn't that big, and we're out of options."

Aila sighed and stared gloomily down at her hands, still clad in the shiny, marigold Dream Eater gloves. "If we're astral projecting, why does everything feel like normal? Like I can feel all the walls and everything…" A light breeze tickled the exposed skin of her arms and she shivered lightly. "And I'm cold now. So we're definitely not dreaming anymore, but we're also not… here? But we _are_ here?"

Riku dismissed his Keyblade and placed his own hand on a wall, seemingly feeling its texture beneath his fingers. "I don't know. I think we should act like we're in our real bodies - treat everything as real now. We can feel temperatures again, and probably everything else."

"Do you think our bodies will get hurt if _we_ get hurt…?"

"I dunno… let's try not to test that too much."

There was a moment of silence before both teens glanced in the direction they knew they needed to go - toward The Castle That Never Was.

"Well," Riku sighed, "no time like the present."

"Speaking of present," Aila said, falling in step with Riku as he set off down the street. "Did you know that that guy with the white hair was from the past?"

Riku quirked a brow at her. "What? You saw him again?"

Aila nodded, chewing the inside of her cheek nervously before continuing. "He says… he says he's Xehanort. From the past."

Riku's eyes widened. "What?"

"Yeah, I guess the fake Ansem went and got him by time traveling or… something? And now he's here to be one of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness? So… so there are TWO Xehanorts we have to deal with. Or… is that fake Ansem really around again too? Because then there's three… And I… I thought I saw Sora fighting Xemnas, do you think there's a way he's back outside of the dreams, too? If they're able to time travel then I don't see why not, so, that's four…"

Riku pinched the bridge of his nose. "Great…"

Aila blinked up at the starless night sky. "We were worried about just fighting one…"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and met Riku's gaze. "It doesn't matter how many copies of himself he gathers. We'll be able to beat him - no matter what he has planned."

Aila smiled tightly. "That's very optimistic…"

Riku smirked. "Just… trying to channel Sora a little. You know he'd want us to stay positive."

"That _is_ his signature trait. Well, that and making friends like some sort of… friend wizard. He'd make friends with a rock if it looked lonely."

"Ha, actually, he did that once - when we were eight. Drew a face on it and everything. It's probably still in his room somewhere."

The two of them laughed, Aila feeling a little less anxious with Riku there to keep her calm.

Her vacation from anxiety was short lived unfortunately, her worries flooding back into her twofold as they turned the corner and found that the city quite literally came to an abrupt end before the castle, which floated ominously a ways out in the distance.

"Ugh," Aila grumbled, eyeing the jagged edge of the street with annoyance. The entire world just kind of… dropped off here, like the city was just a piece of another world that had been lifted away and placed somewhere else. Which, actually, now that she thought about it, might have been what it actually was… She'd never bothered to think much about that during her previous time here. "There was a path here before," she sighed, gesturing distastefully at the vast gap that separated them from the castle. "I thought this whole 'floating castle' thing was an in-game-only detail, but I guess not… It's like someone broke the part that used to connect it to the city away."

"So then, end of the road, huh?" Riku mused aloud, examining the edge with a tight frown. He glanced up at the castle again. "Maybe they _don't_ want us going in there after all…"

"So what now?" Aila asked.

Riku thought for a second before promptly turning around and walking the other way.

Aila reached out a hand. "Uh! Wait! We're not giving up, right?"

"Just testing something," Riku assured, making a beeline for the wall of the closest building. He stopped in front of it for just a moment before abruptly leaping onto the side of it. It took a breath longer than before, but then the pink light of Flowmotion engulfed him, allowing him to push off the wall with more speed and power than usual.

Aila gasped and rushed over to where he'd landed. "We can still do that?!"

"Guess so," Riku replied, straightening up and gazing up at the castle once again. "I know we're back in the real world, but we still have our Dream Eater powers. Which means… he still hasn't woken up." He put a hand over his heart and bowed his head, his voice dropping to just above a whisper. "Where are you… Sora?"

Aila dropped her gaze to the floor, her fists balling in worry and frustration. They didn't even know for sure that Sora was in the castle… if they wasted a really long time trying to figure out how to get up there, would that be a huge mistake? What if they had missed him somewhere else…?

A far off noise somewhere between a squeak and a whine caught Aila's attention, her eyes darting up from the floor in search of the new noise. It seemed Riku had heard it too, his expression puzzled as he took a cursory glance at their surroundings. Aila caught his eye, and they both frowned.

"What was that?" Aila asked quietly.

"I'm not sure…" Riku cupped a hand around his ear and they both held their breath, listening hard for the sound once again. It took a few seconds, but then… there it was again! This time it definitely sounded like… the whine of a puppy? Both Aila and Riku looked hurriedly toward the castle, squinting to try and see if something was there. On the edge of the castle's entrance there was a bit of movement, and Aila heart jumped with hope as she finally realized what it was.

"A Dream Eater!" Riku exclaimed just as Aila let out a happy laugh. There, rolling happily back and forth, was the type of Dream Eater Yen Sid had shown them before Sora and Riku had begun their test - the light blue one that looked like something between a cat and a dog.

"Sora must be there!" Aila said excitedly, grinning at Riku.

Riku nodded, glancing hurriedly around the area again. "How do we get across…?"

A puff of pink hearts over Riku's shoulder startled the teens, Aila falling into a defensive stance on instinct only to relax a second later. "Woobat!" she gushed.

Woobat landed on Riku's shoulder and trilled happily, nuzzling his face into Riku's with gusto. "You found me again," Riku laughed, reaching up to pet the bat affectionately.

Aila glanced to her side just in time to see Buneary barreling toward her, the little bunny leaping into her arms and chattering frantically. "Whoa, hey, slow down!" Aila said, wrapping her arms around Buneary's tiny form and petting one of its long ears. Buneary looked up at her, its heart eyes watery and filled with concern. Aila's own eyes widened as she realized that the last time she and the Dream Eaters had parted, they'd all kind of been under attack. "Were you worried about me?" As an answer, Buneary just buried its face into Aila's chest. "I'm sorry I worried you - I'm okay! I'm glad you're okay, too. Where's…?"

Another circle of pink hearts appeared and Teddi stepped out, looking slightly dazed as it glanced around at its new surroundings. A smile spread across its face as soon as it spotted Aila and Riku and it lifted one big paw in greeting.

"I'm surprised you guys could follow us out here," Riku said, looking between the three Dream Eaters with slight confusion. He looked at Aila and shrugged. "Though, I guess technically, you and I are Dream Eaters right now too, and we made it out…"

Woobat left Riku's shoulder and hovered before him, chattering away about something neither teen could understand. Aila and Riku exchanged a glance. Woobat seemed to sigh, and then closed its eyes, its body blinking in and out of existence a few times.

Riku reached out, slightly alarmed. "Whoa! Are you… okay?"

Woobat smiled assuringly and nodded. Buneary leapt out of Aila's arms, both it and Teddi joining Woobat. All three of them started blinking in and out of existence, seemingly on purpose, before returning to their solid states and smiling expectantly at the teens.

"I… think they're trying to tell us something…" Aila said uncertainly.

Riku crossed his arms. "Hm… maybe… they can only stay here for a short time…?" All three Dream Eaters cheered, encircling Riku and giving him happy hugs. Riku laughed. "I'll take that as a confirmation?"

"How the heck did you decipher that," Aila deadpanned, baffled as she watched them all.

Riku shrugged. "Lucky guess?"

Another whine caught everyone's attention and the three Dream Eaters immediately looked toward the castle, cheering some more as they spotted the little dog cat thing.

"Yeah, we're trying to get up there," Riku explained to the three animals, who all looked at him. "You guys don't have any ideas, do you…?"

Woobat, Buneary, and Teddi exchanged a look, Buneary squeaking a few times before smiles spread across all three of their faces. Woobat rushed up to Riku, nuzzled him one more time, and then shot toward the edge of the city, Buneary and Teddi right behind it. Before Riku or Aila could stop them, all three of the Dream Eaters barreled right over the edge without any hint of hesitation.

Aila took a few hurried steps toward the edge, instinctively wanting to try and catch them before the fell. But a bright flash made her stop, her arm covering her eyes as she tried to blink any spots away. A gasp escaped her once she was able to look again. Now, where nothing but air had been before, a long strip of glowing Dream Eater symbols stretched out across the space between the city and the castle, directly to the castle's entrance.

"A path!" Aila gasped, a smile spreading across her face. But her smile quickly fell again. "Wait, where'd they go…?" There was no sign of the Dream Eaters, leaving just her and Riku alone again.

Riku stepped toward the strip of symbols. "I think they're using their power to make this for us."

Aila stepped up to his side. The strip was about the width of a balance beam and angled at a slight incline - not to mention the castle was _pretty_ freaking far away. She gulped nervously. "So… we're supposed to walk all the way up there… on this?"

"Not walk," Riku said with a shake of his head. He glanced her way. "We still have our Dream Eater powers, remember?" He held a hand out to her.

Aila pressed her lips into a thin line, her brow knitted with heavy skepticism. Very tentatively, she took his hand. "This seems way scarier now that it's not in a dream anymore…"

The heat of Riku's fingers closing around hers was almost startling - she hadn't been able to feel his warmth in the dream. He smiled softly, his teal eyes kind and confident. "I won't let you fall. Promise."

Maybe it was the warmth of his hand, or maybe it was the warmth of his words, but suddenly, Aila didn't feel as scared anymore.

…Well, mostly.

They jumped onto the strip and, after a few terrifying heartbeats where Aila pleaded with whatever entity might be listening not to let them just fall through the translucent symbols to their untimely deaths, Flowmotion kicked in and they went rocketing toward the castle. 'Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down,' Aila chanted internally, instead trying to keep her eyes focused solely on Riku. He was facing away from her, leading the pair, but he seemed so calm and confident even from behind that it managed to keep her from freaking out. She squeezed his hand a little anyway. He squeezed hers back. That helped.

And then, impossibly fast, they were at the castle, the trail of symbols ending at the very edge of the castle's outer entryway. Riku and Aila stumbled to a stop, Aila's body taking a couple of seconds to loosen up enough to allow her to breathe again. She took a deep, shuddering breath in and exhaled with a shaky laugh.

She smiled at Riku. "T-totally easy!"

Riku smirked back. "You weren't scared at all?"

"N-nope! N-not even a l-little!"

Riku held up their still intertwined hands, his knuckles white from how hard Aila was squeezing his fingers. He quirked a brow. "Really…"

Aila hurriedly let go and laced her hands behind her back, feeling her cheeks burn ever so slightly. "…Sorry."

Riku shook out his hand, seeming more amused than hurt. "Don't be. We both made it in one piece - that's what matters."

A flickering caught the teens attention and they both turned to see the strip of symbols they'd just used disappearing into nothing. Aila waited a moment, expectant, but frowned when nothing else happened. Were the Dream Eaters not coming back? "Where are…?"

Riku frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe they used up all their power making that for us. They indicated they could only be in the real world for a short amount of time, right?"

Aila chewed on her lower lip a little. "I hope they're okay…"

"I'm sure they are."

Pattering little footsteps clicked across the marble floor behind them, a smile alighting on Aila's face as she turned to find the dog-cat Dream Eater they'd spotted before. She immediately knelt down and held out her hands toward the light blue thing. "Hi! Oh my gosh you're even cuter full size."

The Dream Eater, which was about the size of a corgi, immediately waddled up to her, wiggling happily from head to tail. Aila gave it a few affectionate pets, mildly surprise to find that it was fuzzy like an animal but squishy like a balloon; she had to fight a very strong urge to squeeze the adorable thing.

Instead, she took its face in her hands and looked seriously into its button eyes. "I'm going to call you Waffles."

Riku snorted. "Why?"

Aila shrugged. "I can't think of a Pokemon correlation, and also I think I'm hungry." Waffles let out a happy little 'yap'.

Riku knelt down next to Waffles as well. "Are you Sora's Dream Eater?" Waffles wiggled even more and yapped a few more times. Seemed like a yes. "Is he here? Can you take us to him?"

Immediately Waffles bolted toward the interior of the castle, turning to 'arf!' only once to make sure the teens were following. Riku and Aila took off after it, following Waffles down hallway after hallway that, both thankfully and unsettlingly, seemed much more familiar to the two of them this time around. They weren't in Sora's dream anymore - this was the real deal.

At last Waffles slowed, a cold sense of déjà vu running up Aila's spine as she realized where they were. The door before them led to the Organization's circular meeting room, the one she'd been forced to pledge her (fake) allegiance in last year.

Waffles whined, its ears pressed flat against its head as it pawed at the closed door. It bowed its head, and then, with a sigh, vanished.

"Waffles?!" Aila gasped, taking a hurried step forward.

"I think its time was up in the real world," Riku said. "Sora must be in here - I'll bet that was the reason Waffles was able to appear here: to show us the way to him."

Aila took a steadying breath and nodded, staring at the door. Somehow, she knew - Sora was definitely through there.

But who else might be waiting there with him…?

Riku pushed the door open as quietly as he could, glancing briefly around like he was worried about being watched. Aila took a nervous glance over her shoulder as well - did the Organization know they were here? Was this a trap? It was so quiet that so far, had it not been for Waffles, she would have thought that this castle was completely abandoned…

They hurried into the room, shutting the door silently behind them. The impossibly high chairs arranged around the room's edges loomed over them, Aila very aware of every echoing step she and Riku took as they approached the center of the room. They climbed up onto the center, circular platform and scanned the room, Aila searching every high up chair for any sign of her friend.

"Sora!"

Riku's call startled Aila. She turned to see him jumping off the platform and rushing toward the only chair that was at floor level, and that, subsequently, Aila hadn't seen at first. Her heart thudded with relief as she realized that this chair wasn't empty - Sora was sitting in it! He seemed asleep, and still in his Dream World form, but he was definitely breathing.

A portal of Darkness appeared next to the chair right as Riku reached it, Young Xehanort stepping out of the shadows. Riku stopped in alarm but, before he could even summon his Keyblade, Young Xehanort raised a hand and somehow, perhaps with some wordless spell, sent Riku flying back up onto the platform.

Aila yelped as Riku collided with her, the two of them tumbling back a few feet across the platform.

"Hands off my new vessel."

Aila groaned as she sat up, shaking stars from her eyes.

"Vessel?" Riku repeated as he sat up as well, sounding a little winded himself.

Young Xehanort smiled, his body levitating easily onto the platform across from the two teens, blocking Sora from them. He could fly?! Aila felt her whole body tense — this guy was way more powerful than she'd been hoping he was.

"Yes," Young Xehanort replied in answer to Riku's question, his yellow eyes settling on the boy. "We originally had our sights set on you. But, you developed a certain… resistance to darkness. So we did what the Keyblade did, and moved down the list."

Aila glared and forced herself to her feet, Riku doing the same a few feet in front of her.

"Roxas…" Young Xehanort continued, somewhat forlornly. "Now there was a worthy candidate. But, unfortunately, he became too aware of himself, and returned to Sora."

This guy had been around for that long…? A cold feeling settled in Aila's stomach — if that were the case, then had Young Xehanort been… watching them? All last year? She really didn't like the idea of that at all.

"Organization XIII's true goal is to divide Xehanort's heart among thirteen vessels."

Aila felt her eyes widen a fraction. Wait… Xehanort wanted to split his heart into thirteen pieces…? What… did that mean? What would that do? Would it just create like, cloned versions of himself, or… She glanced over at Sora. Did Xehanort plan on taking _existing_ people and… turning them into himself? Had that been Xemnas's plan with the Organization…? Had… had the previous members _known_ about that?

Young Xehanort continued, still fixated on Riku. "Thanks to you and Sora, we learned not all our candidates were fit for the task. But, we managed to make up the difference." Aila felt her fingers twitch involuntarily as she tried to reign in her panic. Was he implying that they had _already_ replaced every single member of the Organization that they'd defeated before? No way… it had only been a handful of weeks since then! "And now, Sora, the thirteenth vessel, is within our grasp."

"Thirteen… Xehanorts?" Riku breathed slowly. Aila balled her fists to disguise her hands shaking. How could they defeat _thirteen_ versions of Xehanort all at once?! The sound of Darkness pooling made both teens look up with a start, their eyes widening as they watched almost every chair above them fill with hooded figures. "What is—?!" Riku gasped.

"The _real_ Organization XIII," Young Xehanort replied.

"The Organization?!" Riku breathed, his shoulders tensing as he looked at Young Xehanort once again. Aila took a step closer to him, her eyes darting from one hooded face to another. She couldn't make out anyone's details - were these all people she'd never met? Her skin prickled with the unsettling sense that at least a few of these hooded people were watching her in particular. She noticed three of the chairs were empty still - one was probably for Young Xehanort, but what about the other two? The highest one, which used to belong to Xemnas, still had Darkness pooling atop it, but no one had appeared. Yet.

"I am Xehanort from the most distant past," Young Xehanort was declaring.

Aila squared her shoulders, adrenaline pumping through her and making her feel more than a little on edge. "Yeah, I told him already! Time travel, blah blah blah!"

For the first time since they'd arrived in this room, Young Xehanort finally looked directly at Aila. His lips thinned in what seemed like mild annoyance. "Of course you did. Such a _loyal_ thing you are. Always loyal… to your last breath."

Riku shifted slightly so that he was angled a bit more in front of Aila. "Is that a threat?" he breathed, his voice soft but dangerous.

Young Xehanort returned his gaze to Riku. His lips twitched into a smile. "More like a warning. But I digress." He gestured casually up at the now filled chairs around the room. "My future self gave me a task — to visit the splintered versions of myself in many worlds, and ensure they gathered here today. There are restrictions to movement through time. First, you must leave your body behind to do it. Then, there must be a version of you waiting at the destination. Upon arrival, you can only move forward, as per the laws of time. And you cannot rewrite the events that are destined to happen."

"What have you done?" Riku asked, his shoulders shaking ever so slightly, though with fear or anger Aila couldn't be sure.

"My most future self will arrive soon," Young Xehanort said, gesturing to the highest chair. Aila's eyes widened — so the Darkness pooling there… that was for Master Xehanort himself?! Young Xehanort continued easily, "Then, time for all of us will return to normal, and I will go back to my era to live the life fate has in store. He can vouch for that."

Aila took an involuntary step away from the chair Master Xehanort would be appearing on. There… there was no way she and Riku could beat him right now, not along with everyone else here! But they couldn't just leave Sora! So what…?!

A light sparkled against the white ceiling, followed by a beam rocketing down toward the platform. Aila and Riku braced themselves for a potential blowback as the beam touched down, but it seemed the only one affected was Young Xehanort, who was blown backwards with a yell of surprise.

"Stopza!" a high pitched voice shouted, and Aila felt the rush of powerful magic encircling them all. She blinked a few times before finally registering King Mickey, his Keyblade raised above his head as the time spell he cast did its work. Young Xehanort was frozen in midair, still being blown back by Mickey's landing when the magic had caught him. Aila hurriedly looked up to all the chairs — every one of the hooded figures appeared to be frozen too, along with the Darkness pooling in Master Xehanort's chair. She smiled, relief flooding through her.

Mickey turned to face the teens, smiling as well. "I'm glad I'm not too late."

"Mickey!" Riku replied, sounding all kinds of relieved.

"Just grab Sora so we can go!" Mickey insisted, glancing worriedly down at Sora. "I can't stop them for long."

Riku nodded. "Okay."

Aila was three steps ahead of them. Now that Young Xehanort wasn't in the way, she was halfway across the platform on her way to Sora, desperate to confirm that he was only sleeping, that he was okay. A cry from behind her made her skid to a stop, her eyes wide as she turned back to see Mickey flying off the platform, his Keyblade having been knocked from his hand.

"Mickey!" Riku shouted in alarm.

Young Xehanort, who by all accounts should have still been frozen in midair, caught in the time magic, was now standing directly behind the place Mickey had just been, very much _not_ frozen anymore.

He seemed pissed.

His yellow eyes shifted to Aila, her blood running cold as their gazes locked. Wordlessly he lifted a hand and an invisible energy collided with her, sending her flying through the air and off the platform as well. Her body hit the cold white floor a little ways away from a slightly dazed Mickey and she, rather painfully, rolled to a stop. Ow…

"I said _hands off_!" Young Xehanort bellowed.

"How can you be moving?!" Aila heard Riku ask, though her vision was a little too blurry from being magically pelted across the room to see him.

Mickey pushed himself to his knees and looked up toward the pedestal, alarmed. "Oh no. Are you…?!"

"Begone!" Young Xehanort spat.

Aila struggled to sit up, shaking her head a few times before looking up toward the platform as well. Her breath caught as her eyes landed on a large bubble of Darkness that took up almost the entire platform, obscuring Riku and Young Xehanort entirely from view. Had Young Xehanort done that?!

Mickey was already on his feet, scrambling up the edge of the platform and balancing on the small strip of white not covered by the bubble. He placed a hand on the Darkness and immediately yelped, pulling back like he'd been stung. He glanced Aila's way, his brow furrowed. "I can't get in, not while I'm trying to hold Stopza…"

The hooded figures on all the chairs were still frozen in place, along with the Darkness meant to aid Master Xehanort's arrival. That was probably a really good thing, so it wasn't like Mickey could just stop his spell. It meant Sora was safe, at least for the moment, since no one else in here could move. But now what if Riku was the one in trouble? Aila stood and hesitated, not sure what to do. "Should I try going in…?"

Mickey immediately shook his head. "That's way too dangerous." He seemed to catch himself and rubbed his arm a little sheepishly. "…Sorry Aila, I don't mean to say you're not capable or anything. I've gotta stop doing that… But I really don't think anyone should try to break through this without some kinda protection."

Aila snapped her fingers, an idea coming to her. "The Organization coats protect against Darkness! What if I put one of those on?!"

Mickey still looked skeptical. "Well…"

Something caught Aila's eye. Movement? She looked up at one of the lower chairs, a hooded person sitting there as still as a statue. She must have imagined any movement. But anyway, that chair would probably be one of the easiest to get to. It was pretty high up though, even with it being lower than the others…

Nodding to herself, Aila scurried over to the chair next to the one she was aiming for and placed a hand on the smooth marble of its base, trying to psych herself up.

"What're you doing?" Mickey asked.

"Flowmotion…ing," Aila replied, backing up a few steps and taking a deep breath. She could do this. One big jump, and she'd reach that chair. She ran forward and leapt into the second chair's base, trying to will the feeling of Flowmotion to overtake her. For a second she thought it wasn't going to work, the effect taking longer to kick in now that she was in the real world. But at the last second that now-familiar pink glow overtook her, and she pushed off of the chair with nearly twice as much strength as she would have normally had. Her eyes stayed locked onto her destination, her body just barely clearing the distance necessary. She grabbed hastily at the back of the chair and pulled herself all the way up onto the armrest, balancing precariously as the pink glow faded from around her. A shaky breath escaped her. She did it. She was getting better at that!

Suddenly nervous, she very carefully reached out toward the hooded person still sitting perfectly still before her. Maybe she could just slide the coat off…

Unfortunately, she had failed to consider who she might find hiding underneath it.

Her hand pushed the hood down, revealing a familiar face that made her blood run cold.

Xigbar.

He looked just like she remembered him, his hair slicked back into a long ponytail, an eyepatch over his right eye. But what made every muscle in Aila's body freeze with panic was the ear splitting smile plastered on his face…

And the fact that his left, yellow eye was staring directly at her.

She drew back in surprise, nearly slipping on the armrest. One of Xigbar's gloved hands shot out and locked around her wrist, pulling her so she wouldn't fall, fingers digging too deep into her arm. Still smiling, Xigbar turned to face her more fully. "Careful… You might hurt yourself." His expression darkened. "And that's my job."

With a panicked cry Aila lifted her free hand and shot a ball of Light at Xigbar's chest, the man teleporting away before he could be hit and reappearing in a crouch atop the back of the chair, twin guns drawn. Aila attempted to flee just as Xigbar fired, a bullet piercing her right shoulder as she fell.

She managed to summon her staff and cast a weak Aero at the floor, the resulting gust of wind slowing her decent just enough to keep her crash landing injury free, though it still wasn't pleasant. She clutched at her shoulder, hissing in pain. This was… exactly where he'd hit her the first time he'd shot her last year. Had he done that on purpose?! She looked up to see him still grinning wickedly down at her, looking very triumphant. The shot definitely seemed intentional. What. A. Jerk.

Mickey was in front of Aila in an instant, Keyblade held defensively before him. "You! How are you moving around?!"

Xigbar laughed. "I wasn't in here when you cast your spell — I thought there might be some kind of sneaky business going on, so I hung back when the rest of the party arrived." Aila cast a hurried Cure on herself to ease the intense sting in her shoulder, her mouth running dry as she realized her mistake. That chair he was in… it had been one of the three empty ones from before! She _had_ seen movement, but had just assumed she'd imagined it because of the spell! Ahh, she was so stupid…!

Xigbar's gaze flickered to Sora, and so, therefore, did Mickey's and Aila's. There was a moment of pause before all three of them started rushing toward the boy, Aila summoning Light to her heels to help boost her speed. She was nearly to him first, but Xigbar used his teleportation trick to appear right in her way, firing bullets at her to stop her approach.

"Defend!" she shouted as she skidded to a hasty stop, a Reflect shield surrounding her and protecting her from the attack. Mickey ran past her, trying to rush Xigbar from the side. But Xigbar's reaction time was too fast, and, using his second gun, he managed to fire enough bullets at the King to keep him at bay as well.

Xigbar grinned as Aila's shield dissipated. "Nuh-uh, no take backs! We won this vessel fair and square. You think we'd just let you take him away now? As if!"

Aila growled and raised her staff, getting ready to shoot a Fira at the man before her.

"Hold it! I wouldn't do that if I were you." Xigbar shrugged cockily. "If you fire any attacks at me, I might just teleport away, and your dear pal here behind me will take the hit instead. Do you really want to do that to him when he's so defenseless?" Aila hesitated. Xigbar chuckled. "That's right. Be a good girl and put that weapon of yours down." When Aila didn't lower her staff, Xigbar angled one of his guns at the sleeping Sora, as an added threat. "I'm not here to play games, girly. Don't test me."

"You need Sora," Mickey challenged. "You won't hurt him."

Xigbar snorted. "That's Plan A. But if the choices are between you idiots stealing him away or me taking him out of the picture? Well…" He moved his finger to the trigger of the gun pointed at Sora. "Which do you think I'll choose?"

Aila's heart thudded fearfully, and immediately she dismissed her staff. Even if Xigbar was lying, she couldn't risk the chance. She saw Mickey lower his Keyblade, but not dismiss it. He probably couldn't without ending his spell.

Xigbar smiled toothily again, focused on Aila. "There we go. I like you better when you do as you're told." He pointed his second gun at Aila. "Now, I think you and I have some unfinished business…"

"Xigbar, stop!" Mickey demanded, a glare set deep on his brow. "We heard from Lea — you should have woken up with your heart back, in Radiant Garden! So why are you even here?"

Xigbar glanced at the King. "Sure, I did. But hearts just get in the way — so I gave mine up again."

Aila and Mickey both gasped. "You what?!" Aila asked.

Xigbar returned his gaze to her and smirked. "Why wouldn't I? Hearts are a nuisance — I have bigger things to focus on."

"But… but Xehanort's plan…! He wants to make every member a version of _himself_! Did he tell you that?"

"Sure did."

Aila's jaw dropped. "And you still joined him… _again_?! By choice?!"

Xigbar's eye gleamed mirthfully. "It wasn't exactly an uncommon decision…"

What…? Did that mean… other former members rejoined as well?! Aila resisted the urge to look up at the other hooded figures again, trying to keep her focus on Xigbar despite her sudden intense urge to try and see if she could pick out anyone's silhouettes…

She balled her fists. "He's going to erase you, and make you another version of himself! You can't really be okay with that!"

Xigbar laughed. "Like I told your friend here before we put him into his deepest sleep…" His yellow eye widened. "I'm already half Xehanort."

Aila's mouth felt dry, the similarities between Xigbar's yellow eye and Young Xehanort's yellow eyes hitting her like a truck. "What…?"

"Hey, it's got its perks," Xigbar replied with a shrug. His eye narrowed as his grin widened once again. "Besides, should you really be giving any lectures about being taken over by someone else…?"

Aila balled her fists. "Celina doesn't do that unless I say it's okay. It's totally different."

Xigbar snorted out a laugh. "I'd almost find your naïvety cute, if you weren't so pathetic." His smile darkened. "Now then… I think I made a promise to ruin you, right before you and your little friends killed me. Am I remembering that right?" Aila took a hesitant step back.

The bubble of Darkness on the platform flickered and began to fade, getting the attention of the room's non-frozen or asleep occupants.

Xigbar's smile fell and he shrugged. "Aw, shoot. First things first, I guess…"

When the Darkness fully receded, Riku was left standing in the center of the platform, Keyblade raised and breathing hard, like he'd just been in the middle of a battle. He blinked and lowered his weapon, seeming a bit dazed. Young Xehanort, Aila noted, was nowhere in sight. They must have fought, and it seemed like Riku had won. Some strange, dull ache pulled at the very edge of her heart. She frowned and internally pushed whatever that sensation was away — she must have just been worried about Riku.

"Are you okay, Riku?" Mickey called.

"Yeah," Riku breathed, turning to face his friends. His breath hitched when he realized that they weren't alone, and he immediately fell back into a fighting stance. "You…!"

Xigbar kept his guns trained on Sora and Aila, but smirked in greeting. "Hey there. Congrats on the win." His words were dripping with sarcasm that put Aila very on edge. Xigbar glanced at the frozen figures around the room. "Let's see, His _Majesty_ here cast Stopza, right? I'd say time'll be up on that riiiight about… _now_."

Not a moment later, Aila felt a shift in the air around them all, the time magic holding this room in suspension fading away. Mickey gripped his Keyblade a little tighter in frustration, but it seemed he couldn't hold the magic any longer. Aila inhaled shakily, her eyes glued to Xigbar. Had Young Xehanort only fought Riku for as long as he had needed to, to waste the King's spell? And Xigbar… he'd just been distracting them this whole time, hadn't he. They should have just immediately grabbed Sora and made a run for it…!

The sound of Darkness settling high above them made everyone look up, a satisfied sneer on Xigbar's face. Aila felt the blood drain from her face — the highest chair was filled. The old man she'd only so far seen in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II, and in the projection on Yen Sid's desk, was sitting very casually upon his throne, grinning down at all of them in a way that made Aila want to run and hide. All of the other people around the room seemed unfrozen now as well, every one of them looking dutifully to their leader, waiting for his instructions. Young Xehanort, too, had taken his seat, appearing out of nowhere like he hadn't just fought a harrowing battle against Riku. That wasn't good.

"Master Xehanort!" Mickey called, a deep glare set on his brow. "We were right about you!"

Master Xehanort seemed very pleased. "All of this was decided." His gravelly voice gave Aila chills. "My twelve selves would welcome me here on this day, when I would return a complete person. It is the _future_ which lies beyond my sight."

"Why are you doing this?!" Mickey demanded.

Master Xehanort's gaze seemed to shift to Aila. Her lungs felt frozen, like she'd suddenly forgotten how to breathe. He smirked, before addressing the whole room again. "In ancient times, people believed that light was a gift from an unseen land by the name of Kingdom Hearts. But Kingdom Hearts was safeguarded by its counterpart, the Key-blade."

' _X-blade,_ ' Aila thought to herself, sure that was what Master Xehanort must be referring to. This wouldn't be about any old regular Keyblade.

"Warriors vied for that precious light, thus beginning the 'Keyblade War.' The violent clash shattered the Key-blade into twenty pieces— seven of light, and thirteen of darkness. And the only real Kingdom Hearts was swallowed by the darkness, never to surface again." Master Xehanort crossed one leg over the other and casually rested his chin on his right fist. His calmness somehow made Aila's anxiety spike even more in contrast. "I once tried to create my own pure light and darkness to forge the Key-blade, but the attempt ended in failure. In my eagerness, I had lost sight of the correct way to achieve my goal. I acted rashly. I can admit that now."

Something about this seemed to set Mickey off, the King shaking in anger. "What you did back then — your mistakes — changed the destinies of three of my friends!"

Aila frowned. The three Keybladers from Mickey's letter…

Master Xehanort seemed unperturbed. "Ah, but destiny is never left to chance. I merely guided them to their proper places. The broken boy who failed to be the blade… the misguided master who sacrificed herself for a friend… and the feckless youth who became my new vessel."

Again, some dull something tugged at Aila's heart, like a buried sadness she'd long forgotten.

Mickey, too, looked very sad. "I couldn't find a way to save 'em…" He clenched his fists, his anger returning. "But I wanted to believe that their sacrifice stopped you for good." He looked at the floor, his anger seeming to turn inward. "Why? How was I so blind? I should have seen it, as soon as Maleficent started gathering the seven Princesses of Heart."

"Yes," Master Xehanort chuckled. "They were all my doing. I used the evil fairy to find seven pure lights for me, just as I prepared thirteen vessels to fill with pure darkness."

"But you failed," Riku said, stepping forward confidently. "Sora stopped you in your tracks on both counts."

"Yes, he did. That dull, ordinary boy— a Keyblade wielder so unlike any I have ever seen."

Xigbar snickered, and Aila grit her teeth, feeling defensive of her friend.

Master Xehanort sat up a little straighter. "However, I have not abandoned my ambitions— the seven guardians of light and the thirteen seekers of darkness."

"Seven guardians of light?" Mickey repeated, quirking a brow. "Well, for Keyblade wielders, there's me and Riku and Sora. And my three missing friends, that's six. Then the seventh would be…" He glanced Aila's way, and she nodded as confidently as she could. She'd fight with them, even without a Keyblade. Mickey nodded back before gasping and looking around the room. "That means… the thirteen seekers of darkness…"

"Yes, little king. Perceptive. But Sora and another on your list belong to me now. And that puts you three guardians short."

Aila cocked her head. "Three…?"

Master Xehanort looked directly at her again, and once again she felt a coldness wash through her. "You cannot fill that role, and neither can your brother or sister. Surely you know that, Celina."

Aila's veins buzzed with panic. Should she know what he was talking about? Ahh, pretending she _did_ know things was already proving much harder than pretending she _didn't_ … "U-um, well…"

Master Xehanort cocked his head. "Oh? What's this? You seem confused…"

Aila shook her head defiantly. "I'm not! I just… Celina is a Spirit of Light, so obviously…!"

"So _obviously_ you must remain neutral," Master Xehanort interrupted. "Spirits were created to maintain balance — nothing more, nothing less. They may have an affinity that leans more toward either light or shadow, but that does not change their purpose. Unless you're looking for further punishment, I'd advise you to stay out of things." He shrugged. "Although, if you insist on inserting yourself into the matter, you could allow me to bypass this fight, and create the Key-blade for me yourself. It is rumored that Spirits may have that ability — a Spirit of Light combined with my cultivated Darkness… My Nobody self offered this option to you already, did he not?"

Aila felt herself pale at the memory of Xemnas's "offer" he'd made during his final stand…

Riku stepped forward again. "Aila's not interested."

Master Xehanort sneered down at him. "No, it seems _Aila_ isn't. A pity. Imagine the time it would have saved me, and the suffering it would have saved all of you. But worry not. All of the pieces are destined to appear. Your seven lights just like my thirteen darknesses, whose final clash will beget the prize I seek…"

Both he and the King finished the thought at the same time. "The Key-blade!"

Master Xehanort stood up on his chair. A Keyblade came to his right hand, a jagged, dark silver weapon with what looked almost like a devil's face carved into its center and a single, wide blue eye with a catlike pupil inlaid in its end. A blue crystal glistened from the dangling keychain, set like the center of a dark flower, surrounded by jagged metal petals.

He placed his left hand calmly behind his back, surveying the room as he continued. "But first, the thirteen darknesses shall be united. All the seats have been filled. And now, the last vessel shall bear my heart…" He raised his left hand and gestured purposefully toward Sora. "…like the rest!"

With a terrible rumble, Sora's chair began to rise, lifting him up toward Master Xehanort.

"No!" Mickey shouted, just as Riku called, "Sora!"

Aila felt a wave of fresh panic wash through her and immediately she started running, her eyes glued to her friend as he was lifted further and further away. Xigbar fired at her a few times in rapid succession and she dodged, but before she could even take a breath he had teleported right to her and was ramming into her, forcing her to the ground and pinning her on her back.

He chuckled, one gun pressed to her temple while his other fist held her shoulder firmly in place. "Give it up, kid. You lose."

Mickey and Riku had attempted to make a dash for Sora as well, but two of the hooded figures intercepted them, their hoods falling back in the scuffle. Xemnas had caught Mickey around the throat, while the fake Ansem had Riku pinned face down on the platform. The fact that not only the fake Ansem, but _Xemnas_ really was back was only a passing horror for Aila at the moment, her wide, terrified eyes locked onto Sora's sleeping form that was now so high above her. His chair had slowed to a stop, level with Master Xehanort's.

Master Xehanort let out a low laugh, his left hand glowing with some kind of red magic that he cast on his own Keyblade. With purpose, he lifted his blade high above his head, his eyes closed as he focused on whatever power he was summoning forth for it to use. A reddish-yellow ball of light shot out of the Keyblade as he thrust it forward, the light hurtling through the air and making a beeline for the defenseless boy.

Aila felt like time slowed right before the magic hit Sora. She thought maybe she was screaming his name, but it was like her ears had stopped processing sound, her heart stopping as she realized what was about to happen.

That light was a piece of Xehanort's heart.

Sora was about to become…!

An explosion of flames and smoke suddenly erupted as the light collided with something. Something that, somehow, by some miracle, Aila didn't think had been Sora.

Something had blocked him, just in time.

"He made it!" Mickey cheered, and as the smoke cleared Aila began to make out the silhouette of someone holding Sora, one chakram still flaming after its collision with Master Xehanort's magic. Aila let out a watery laugh, relief washing over her.

"You!" Xemnas shouted angrily.

"Axel!" Xigbar called, seeming taken aback by this development.

Lea grinned. "Axel? Please. The name's Lea. Got it memorized?"

"You're not supposed to be here!" Xigbar growled, his grip on Aila tightening in his anger. Aila grabbed at his wrist, glaring up at him.

"Promises to keep," Lea replied. His gaze flickered from Xigbar to Aila. "I'll always be there to get my friends back." Aila stopped glaring at Xigbar to instead smile up at Lea. She'd never been so happy to see anyone in her whole life! Lea shifted his attention to Master Xehanort. "What, bad timing? You had your perfect little script, but you kinda forgot to write the sequel. Now, let's find out what happens!"

Frustrated, Xigbar slammed his gun on the floor mere centimeters from Aila's head, making her jump. With gritted teeth, he looked up at Master Xehanort. "What now, you old coot? Our time is up!"

Master Xehanort merely smiled and glanced at one of the hooded people sitting a few chairs to his left. The hooded person quickly stood and, in the blink of an eye, leapt toward Lea, a weapon forming in their right hand. Lea lifted his chakram and blocked the weapon being swung at his head, his body shuddering slightly from the impact, but he managed to keep hold of Sora and hold his ground. Aila felt the color drain from her face as she got a better look at the weapon the mystery person had just summoned - a large, blue and silver claymore.

She knew that weapon.

The person's hood fell back, blue hair spilling out and confirming Aila's fears. "Saïx," she breathed, her mouth feeling suddenly very dry.

This caught Xigbar's attention, the Nobody grinning cruelly down at her. "What's wrong? Didn't you see this coming…?"

With a frustrated yell, Aila thrust one hand toward Xigbar's face and summoned a ball of Light, recalling how defensive the Nobody always got about Light near his eye. He recoiled immediately and raised one arm to cover his face before grabbing Aila's wrist aggressively with his other hand. Okay, that hurt, but she could use it to her advantage. Aila swung her arm sharply to the side, pulling a distracted Xigbar off balance and giving her enough leverage to push him all the way off. With another sharp pull she freed her wrist and then summoned her staff, slashing out at Xigbar. He teleported away before her hit could land and Aila hurried to her feet, breathing hard and fast as she glanced frantically around the room.

Lea had managed to push Saïx back and leap down to the room's center platform, and Riku and Mickey had just managed to free themselves from the fake Ansem and Xemnas. That was good — they all were on equal footing again. Aila scurried up onto the platform and rushed to Lea, who was still holding Sora securely in one arm while holding his chakram defensively out with the other.

"Hey kid," he breathed when she reached him, his green eyes a little wider than usual as they darted around the room, his body tensed for an attack from any one of the villains surrounding them all. "You good?"

"Not great," Aila breathed, trying very hard not to look at Sora's unresponsive body for too long. "But not hurt either. You?"

"Same."

Riku and Mickey had fallen into fighting stances on the platform before Aila and Lea, also preparing for an attack. Riku glanced over his shoulder at them, confused and curious. "Why are you here, Axel?"

Lea fell out of his defensive stance for a moment. "No, I told you my name's— Agh, whatever, Axel, fine. Now let's get outta here!"

Mickey looked back and nodded. "Right!"

Unfortunately, it looked like they weren't going to get out of this room without a fight. The fake Ansem growled and summoned the power of Darkness, calling forth a massive, inky black shadow of a creature with deep blue veins and a heart shaped hole in its chest. Dirty white bandages wrapped around its chest above the hole, as well as around its head and mouth, almost like some kind of gag holding the monster's jaws shut. Even with that restriction, it let out a room shaking roar through clenched, pointed teeth, the long tendrils of Darkness flowing off of its head shuddering with the sound before the creature shot up toward the ceiling. It had no legs, but rather a tail that reminded Aila of Genie, and seemed capable of flying at crazy speeds. It was so fast, in fact, that Aila hardly even realized what was happening before it had made a beeline for the platform and scooped up both Riku and Mickey, one caught in each of the creature's massive hands.

"No!" Aila gasped, making to rush forward and help, only to hear the unmistakeable click of a gun being cocked near her left temple.

She froze, her eyes darting to meet Xigbar's, the Nobody smirking triumphantly. "Not another step."

Aila heard Lea gasp and she hurriedly glanced his way, her heart skipping a few beats at the sight of Xemnas holding one of his red, glowing sword-like weapons up to her friend's throat. "Traitor…" Xemnas growled. "Hand over the boy."

Lea shifted so he was holding Sora a little more behind his back, trying to block the Keyblader with his own body. "Not gonna happen."

Xemnas's eyes narrowed. "So be it."

Distant screaming made everyone look up in confusion or alarm, Aila's eyes widening as she almost immediately recognized the voices. Donald and Goofy?! A streak of blue magic was zigzagging haphazardly down from the impossibly high white ceiling, and as it approached the platform Aila realized that both Donald and Goofy were being carried with it. With another scream they slammed into the dark creature holding Riku and Mickey, their momentum continuing to carry them forward as they bounced off of the monster's head. Goofy crashed into Xigbar, while Donald collided with Xemnas, both Nobodies sent tumbling off the platform while Donald and Goofy skidded to a stop in their places. A blue stone clattered to the floor of the platform as well. Understanding blossomed within Aila at the sight of it — a Star Shard!

Fake Ansem's dark creature shuddered and then faded away in a fog of Darkness, apparently having been significantly injured by two full sized bodies slamming into its neck at full speed. Riku and Mickey landed easily on the platform again once released, both of them looking rather bemused by the turn of events.

"Donald! Goofy!" Aila cried, dropping to Goofy's side and glancing between him and Donald. "Are you guys okay?"

Donald groaned in reply, his eyes looking very unfocused. "Were we supposed to do that…?"

Goofy winced, lying flat on his back, and then blinked a few times up at the ceiling. "I think so…?" Aila hurriedly cast two Cure spells for them and they both sighed in unison. Goofy smiled up at her. "Gwarsh, thanks Aila. I like your outfit!"

Aila let out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a laugh. She'd nearly forgotten about her current weird color palate. "Ha, thanks, Goofy…"

"Goofy, Donald, you saved us!" Mickey said, rushing to Donald to help him sit up while Aila offered Goofy a hand, which he gladly accepted.

"We did?" Donald asked. He puffed out his chest proudly. "I mean, we did!" Riku and Lea both breathed out a chuckle.

Movement caught Aila's eye and she looked up to see that everyone else in the room seemed to be… fading away?

"We are out of time," Master Xehanort sighed, his graveled voice sending another shiver through Aila. He was standing on his throne, surveying everything that played out before him with hardly any inkling of disappointment, left hand behind his back, right hand still casually holding his Keyblade at his side. "Neither the union of light nor darkness has been achieved, and we must all return whence we came."

Aila quickly glanced over the edge of the platform to see Xigbar and Xemnas fading away as well, both of them looking pretty nonplussed about it. Xigbar smirked at her, and she glared back.

"But," Master Xehanort continued, "the gathering of the seven and thirteen is nigh."

Satisfied that he wasn't about to try some last minute attack, Aila tore her gaze away from Xigbar to cast one more look around the room. Young Xehanort was looking a little frustrated, but said nothing. Saïx was staring directly at Lea, the redhead seeming very tense as he stared right back. Most of the people in the room had never removed their hoods at all — Aila looked hard at each of them, trying to search for any clues as to who they might be. Maybe they were all just other versions of Xehanort… maybe Xigbar and Saïx were the only non-versions of him here… She, somewhat selfishly, really, really hoped that was the case, but it was impossible to say. They were all too high up to get a good look at.

Master Xehanort smiled. "Let us finish this at the fated place, once your lights and my darknesses have joined together!"

And then he was gone, along with everyone else on his side.

For now.

KHKHKHKH

Yeah okay that ending is weak. I had to find a moment to split the chapter and… this was the best I could figure out.

I don't know if it's just me? But this doesn't feel like 24 pages? But it totally is? So… I'm sorry if it kinda felt like not much happened, but I just couldn't post a 50-plus page chapter lol. I hope this was enjoyable! And like I said, this means the next part is almost all done, so the wait won't be as long this time. Let's shoot for 2 weeks again!

Please let me know what you think, I absolutely LOVE reading every review you guys leave. Thank you for giving this story so much love! I spend a TON of time writing these chapters, and it makes me so happy to know people are enjoying the work I put into them.

WE ARE ALMOST DONE WITH THIS SET UP ARC THANK THE HEAVENS!

Thank you all so much for reading! Until next time!

~Fade


	11. True Master

Ahhh… I blinked and it had almost been three weeks! I am so confused! Work has been super crazy lately, I'm so sorry to keep you guys waiting again. I'm trying really hard to be at least sort of consistent for you all, thank you for your continued patience with me!

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed lately, both this story and the original! I've been getting a lot of new readers, so, welcome! I'm so glad people are still enjoying this after so long~

I've got some things to say about this chapter, but I'll wait until the end so I don't spoil it.

Here we go!

* * *

" _I wanted to wake you straightaway, but I knew I had to wait several hours to ensure you were safely recovered."_

 _"What! How long has it been?"_

 _"Five minutes. I got bored._ _"_

― Jonathan Stroud, The Golem's Eye

* * *

 **Chapter 11: True Master**

Aila breathed a sigh of relief, happy to not be surrounded and outnumbered by some of their most powerful enemies all at once anymore. But that relief quickly gave way to worry again as her eyes fell on the still sleeping Sora tucked under Lea's right arm.

Lea, whose arm was no doubt killing him by this point, placed Sora gently onto the platform, everyone closing in a little in their anxiousness to be close to their friend.

"Sora, wake up!" Donald leaned down to shake Sora's shoulder a little. Aila could see his concern building when Sora didn't react. "Hey! Come on! This is no time for napping!"

"Gwarsh, is he okay?" Goofy asked, his brow knitted with worry.

No one seemed to have an answer for him.

Riku dismissed his Keyblade and clenched his fist. "What do we do now…?"

Mickey picked up the Star Shard Donald and Goofy had dropped. "Let's get him back to Master Yen Sid's. He'll know what to do."

Aila frowned. "Um… Wait. How do we get back?"

Mickey held up the Star Shard. "We can all use this together."

"No, I mean…" She gestured between Sora, Riku, and herself. "We're all still in weird dream-y forms? So um… how do we… fix that?"

Mickey nodded thoughtfully. "It seems like the three of you got pulled into the real world separate from your bodies. I'm sure once we get you back to where your bodies are sleeping, we can put you all back together."

For some reason the phrase 'put you back together' made Aila's skin crawl a little. "Ah… o-okay, if you say so…"

"Let's hurry," Riku insisted, clearly anxious about Sora's current state.

"Right, hang on," Lea sighed, shaking out his arm before scooping Sora up again. "At least he's smaller than usual in this 'weird dream-y form'…"

"Need any help?" Goofy asked, seeming more than willing to carry Sora.

Lea stubbornly shook his head. "I've got him."

Mickey held out the Star Shard. "Okay everyone, gather around me. We'll be to the tower in a jiffy."

It only took a few moments for the magic to take hold, Mickey seeming to guide it around their whole group before they were all somewhat violently pulled up into the sky. Aila heard a few yelps escape their group, her stomach feeling very much like it had been left behind as her body was pulled off into space. Her vision was just a blur of blue and yellow and she was pretty certain her body was being thrown into flips and spins as she was pulled along, but any sense of up and down had gone out the window the second her feet had left solid ground, so she had no way to be sure.

And then it was over, all of them tumbling into Master Yen Sid's study in a confused and dizzy heap. Mickey seemed to be the only one still standing, almost completely unfazed by the trip, no doubt from lots of practice. No fair.

"Remind me never to do that again," Lea mumbled, Sora still somehow held in his grasp. It seemed like Lea had managed to use his body to cushion Sora's landing, which was a very nice thing to do, but probably hadn't been overly pleasant.

"I'm gonna be sick," Donald whined.

"Be sick over there," Aila pleaded dizzily. "Otherwise I'll be sick too."

"You made it." Yen Sid's study wouldn't stop spinning, so it took Aila a few seconds to locate him towering over them all. His mouth was thinned into a worried line, his beady eyes locked onto Sora. In a single motion, he scooped Sora away from Lea, his robes billowing out around him as he quickly made his way toward the door on the side of the room.

"Hey, sure, take him, no problem," Lea muttered woozily, pushing himself to his feet.

Everyone hurried as steadily as they could after the old sorcerer, who was already standing over Sora's body by the time they'd made it into the side room. Aila paused when her eyes landed on her own body. It was… more than a little jarring to see herself, sleeping soundly in a little bed a few feet away. Was that what she looked like…? It was so different than seeing herself in a mirror. She looked more… delicate than she liked to imagine herself. Vulnerable. She frowned.

Feeling a little creeped out, she forced herself to pay attention to Yen Sid, who was very carefully placing Sora's dream form on top of his real world body. The two melded together as easily as drops of water, Sora's body glowing lightly pink for just a second before returning to normal.

Everyone held their breath — it seemed like Aila wasn't the only one hoping that, maybe, that was all Sora was going to need to wake up. But, even after his dream self was back within him, there was no change.

"Damn," Aila heard Lea mutter. She dropped her gaze to the floor. What now…?

"Riku, Aila." Yen Sid had turned to them both. "Return to your bodies as well. You are no doubt using an immeasurable amount of energy to maintain these forms — I suggest you do not remain this way any longer."

Aila shared a glance with Riku. "Are we…?" Aila asked, surprised to hear that she'd apparently been using a lot of energy like this. Now that she thought about it, her limbs did feel pretty heavy, like they had been slowly filling up with sand over the last hour or so.

Riku let out a breath, his eyes resting on Sora again. "I guess I hadn't been paying attention to that…"

Aila looked at Sora as well, fear tugging at her heart. "Yeah, me neither…"

"Quickly, now," Yen Sid insisted, ushering the two of them over to their bodies. Aila was once again low key creeped out as she looked down at herself. Her face was so calm, almost expressionless in her sleep. For some reason that really bothered her — she wasn't feeling calm at all, so how dare her body get to look so unstressed. Actually, she couldn't remember ever seeing herself look so unburdened, and for half a second she felt guilty for taking that peacefulness away from herself. She shook her head. Stupid, that made no sense.

Yen Sid instructed them both to place a hand over their bodies' hearts, which they did, albeit in Aila's case very reluctantly. If she was already freaked out just _looking_ at herself then what would it be like to place a hand on herself?! Thankfully she didn't get much time to dwell on that; the room shifted beneath her feet as soon as her fingers touched her body's chest, and the next thing she knew she was blinking up at the ceiling, highly disoriented. Goofy and Donald had followed her over to her bed, the two of them gazing down at her with knitted brows.

"You okay?" Donald asked.

Aila nodded and sat up, putting a hand to her head. Moving felt strange, like the air suddenly had so much more resistance than it had had on her in her dream form. "I… think so…" She glanced at Riku, who was sitting up in his bed as well, back in one piece. He smiled tightly at her. She tried to smile back.

But Sora was still asleep.

Goofy suggested that maybe Sora wouldn't want to wake up if he was in a cozy bed, so they moved him out to Yen Sid's study and sat him against the back wall. His head lolled forward, his chest rising and falling gently as he continued to sleep.

Aila lightly shook Sora's left shoulder. "Okay Sora, it's not funny anymore. I mean, it wasn't funny to begin with, but…" He didn't react. She bit the inside of her cheek.

Mickey was quietly explaining Master Xehanort's plan to Master Yen Sid, but his eyes kept glancing worriedly in Sora's direction even as he gave his report. Riku was kneeling on Sora's other side, Donald and Goofy standing a little behind him, all of them watching Sora with increasing concern. Lea had taken a very Leon-esque pose against another wall, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes on the floor.

"Seven lights, thirteen darknesses…" Yen Sid mused from his desk, his fingers steepled before him as he mulled over what Mickey had just relayed to him. Mickey, his job done, approached Sora again, stopping a few feet back and seeming unsure of what to do. Yen Sid hummed thoughtfully. "Master Xehanort has been busy."

Aila thought about shaking Sora again, but it was clear at this point that that wasn't going to work. Her hand was still on his shoulder, her fingers tightening a little around the fabric of his sleeve as she tried to keep herself calm. His face looked so peaceful… She quickly glanced at his chest again to watch it rise and fall, to remind herself that he was breathing. He was only asleep. That was all.

"Aw, Sora…" Mickey said sadly. "Don't tell me _your_ heart's sleeping, too…"

"Too?" Aila breathed, trying her best to keep her voice steady.

Mickey nodded. "Like Ventus…"

Oh. One of the previous Keybladers? Aila's grip tightened around Sora's sleeve once again as a bolt of panic shot through her. If Sora's fate was the same as Ventus's, that was very, very bad news. The lights in the study flickered ever so slightly.

"No, Mickey," Yen Sid said, everyone turning to look at him. He was sitting at his desk, facing away from them all. "This affliction is not the same." Aila sighed shakily, her panic slightly lessened.

"Can we do anything for him?" Riku asked softly. Aila shut her eyes tightly. That was a question someone might ask about a family member dying in a hospital… She'd heard it on occasion when her mom had taken her in to work. Ugh, she hated hospitals so much. She took another deep breath, trying once again to remind herself that Sora was only sleeping. They'd wake him up — whatever Xehanort had done _had_ to have a way to be undone, right?

Yen Sid thought for a moment before answering Riku's question. "In your Mark of Mastery exam, you were to unlock seven Sleeping Keyholes. By doing so, you would awaken those worlds from their prison of slumber, and also acquire the power to free a heart from its sleep. Riku, you unlocked those Keyholes within Sora's dreams. Therefore, it stands to reason that you now have the power to awaken Sora's heart."

Aila's heart fluttered with hope as she glanced quickly at Riku. He was still staring at the back of Yen Sid's chair, his face already set with determination.

"You want him to dive back into Sora's sleep?" Mickey asked, sounding worried. "But, Master, Sora's heart is down in the darkest abyss. If Riku's not careful, he might just get trapped down there with him."

The hope Aila had been feeling was immediately quashed by a new wave of fear. So, if Riku did this, there was a chance that _both_ he and Sora would be trapped like this? For… for how long? Forever?

The lamps flickered again.

"No," Mickey said, shaking his head. "I'll go instead!"

Yen Sid stood from his desk and turned toward the group, looking very serious, as always. "And perhaps you may even succeed, Mickey. But there is no denying Riku stands the better chance, having dived into Sora's heart as long as he has."

Mickey hummed, not seeming entirely convinced, no doubt worried about losing Riku as well. Aila looked at Sora's face again, trying to find any sign that he could hear them. She took his hand with her free one and squeezed lightly, wishing he'd squeeze back. He didn't. She bowed her head.

"Mickey…" Riku breathed, and Aila looked up to see him smiling at Sora. She blinked a few times in surprise, her lashes a little wet. Riku continued, turning to Mickey. "I really appreciate it. But… I'll go wake Sora up."

"Riku," Mickey protested lightly.

Riku turned back to Sora again, smiling a little wider. "Look at his face… Sleeping like nothing's wrong — like there's nothing to even worry about." He breathed out a chuckle and met Aila's eye. "He's always been like that." His eyes rested on Sora again. "The three of us would agree to work on the raft, and then this guy would go take a nap on the beach!" A watery laugh escaped Aila, and a soft determination lit Riku's face as he turned to address the rest of the room. "You see, it's my job to keep him on his toes. Besides, what kind of Keyblade Master sleeps through his test?" Riku turned back to Sora, smiling fondly. "I'm doing it for me, too. Sora saved me once. And… I heard him call my name. He needs me."

Mickey nodded, smiling a little now as well. "There's somethin' real strong that binds us to each other. Even in the darkness, you can reach him. All you gotta do is follow that connection!"

"Gee, we're all connected to Sora," Goofy pointed out, looking a bit more heartened now.

"You said it!" Donald cheered.

"And if the Darkness gets ya…" Axel piped up, everyone turning to look at him. He grinned. "…I promise I'll bail you out. 'Dark Rescue' is my middle name."

"Another name?" Aila teased lightly. "So now it's… 'Axel Dark Rescue Lea'."

"Wha… You know Lea isn't my last name, right?"

A few light laughs escaped the room's occupants, everyone seeming a little more hopeful now.

Riku stood. "Guys, thank you. Don't worry — I'll bring Sora back."

Aila stood as well and reached out to Riku, grabbing the back of his jacket. He turned to her, one eyebrow quirked in a silent question. He was so much taller than her again now that he was back in his current body, his muscles much more defined, his build overall more imposing, but somehow he radiated nothing but kindness. He was strong, obviously — Aila knew that. But despite his pep talk, she couldn't help the fear needling in her heart.

She looked up at him, her face filled with worry. "Both of you. Promise that _both of you_ will come back."

Riku seemed slightly taken aback for a moment before his expression softened. He nodded, his lips tweaking up into a gentle smile. "I promise. Both Sora and I will be back soon. I'll try not to make you worry for long."

Aila let out a breath and nodded, trying to feel confident. She released his jacket and stepped away. For a brief moment she thought about asking to go with him. After all, she'd just been in Sora's dreams as well, right? But something in her told her that Riku wouldn't need her, and she worried that her fear for Sora, which she couldn't quite seem to get under control, might make her more of a burden than a help. And besides, Riku was the one with the 'waking power' that Yen Sid had mentioned — he wouldn't need her help with that. Maybe, if there was any problem, she and Mickey could go in after him… She knew now that she'd be able to find her way to Riku, wherever he ended up in the dream world. She'd done it once, right? So she kept her mouth shut, and let him go alone.

Everyone gave Riku space as he summoned his Keyblade and pointed it at Sora, his expression calm and focused. He closed his eyes and a pink light surrounded him, an identical pink light surrounding Sora a moment later. Riku's body glowed brighter and brighter until the light shot down his Keyblade and into Sora, Aila wincing back a little from the shock of the light on her eyes.

The glow around both boys faded, Yen Sid catching Riku just as his body began to fall forward. The sorcerer laid Riku down on the ground, and for a few seconds, everyone was silent.

"…Did it work?" Donald finally asked.

Yen Sid nodded. "Yes. Riku has taken a dive into Sora's sleep. Now, we wait."

Lea pushed off the wall. "Great. Mind if I get some air?"

Yen Sid gestured to the door. "Be my guest." Lea nodded in thanks and made a beeline for the exit. He seemed very tense, but then again, they all were.

Aila looked back to both Sora and Riku, knots in her stomach. She remembered how confident Young Xehanort had seemed about the fact that Sora's heart belonged to them now. What if he was right? No, Riku could do this. And Sora, too! She knew, somewhere, he had to still be fighting to get back to them… right? But what if he couldn't? What if…

"Aila."

Aila turned to Yen Sid, mildly startled by him addressing her. The lamps had started flickering again. Yen Sid should really get those fixed.

The sorcerer's brow was creased in concern. "Are you all right?"

Aila turned away. Was she extra pale right now or something? It sure felt like the color had drained from her. "I think I need some air too…"

"Of course. Go ahead."

"Want us to come?" Goofy asked, he and Donald looking ready to follow her if she asked them to.

Aila shook her head. "Stay with Sora. I'll be right back."

She took the stairs slowly, her body feeling too heavy. Whether that was a side effect of using so much power to maintain her dream state or just the worry in her heart weighing her down, she couldn't be sure. Probably some combination of both.

The outdoor air was crisp and cool, Aila shutting her eyes for a second after stepping out of the tower and just letting the air wash over her. There was so much to process, even if she tried not to think about Sora and Riku's current predicament.

They were going to have to fight Xehanort, but he'd also made some weird threats about how Aila shouldn't fight on either side. Obviously she was going to ignore that, but she had to admit that she had a feeling that if Celina were around, she'd be pointing out that Xehanort's reasoning hadn't been… _completely_ nonsensical. Spirits _were_ supposed to keep balance, right? And she supposed that, sometimes, imbalance could swing the other way — too much light, rather than too much darkness.

But Xehanort was messing with the worlds, and even going so far as to mess with _time._ That would qualify as throwing things _way_ off balance, wouldn't it? So in that case, fighting against him would make perfect sense. Maybe he didn't see things that way… but from where she was standing, it sure seemed like _he_ was the one breaking rules. Maybe he just didn't want her to fight; his younger self sure seemed like he didn't want her to. But why? She wasn't any stronger than, say, Mickey or Sora or Riku, or probably anyone else on their side, so it wasn't like he should consider her that much more of a threat than anyone else, right? But what other reason could there be?

Maybe it had to do with whatever history Young Xehanort seemed to have with Celina. They had definitely met before, and the longer Aila didn't know the details of that past meeting, the sooner Xehanort was going to figure out that she had no contact with Celina. What would happen then? Maybe everyone would just leave her alone; maybe they only saw _Celina_ as any kind of threat or interest and so without her, Aila would just be… a regular teenaged girl.

Ha. Or maybe not. Even without Celina, the idea of being a regular teenager seemed _so_ far off now…

And then there was that armored boy, Vanitas. What was his game? Why hadn't he just attacked her right away? He wanted to talk, but why? Now that she had some time to think, she realized that maybe she had seen him before — in that same cutscene from back home when she'd first seen Master Xehanort, and the three armored warriors. Four if you counted Vanitas, who, if she remembered correctly, had been on Master Xehanort's side in the scene. If that hadn't been him, it was someone wearing a very similar outfit. She was willing to bet it was, though; Vanitas was clearly bad news, and was obviously aligned with Xehanort. So that tracked.

And then…

"That IDIOT!"

Aila's eyes snapped open, her adrenaline spiking as she searched for the source of the sudden shouting. It only took a second — Lea was pacing on the grass a little ways away, one hand on his head, his shoulders hunched and shaking. He seemed very distressed.

"Lea!" Aila called, rushing down the outside stairs to her friend. He either didn't hear her or didn't care, still pacing, his whole body shaking with emotion. "Lea, are you okay?" Aila tried again. He continued to ignore her, mumbling to himself, his eyes on the grass. "Lea… Lea. _Axel_!"

Lea blinked and looked up, seeming startled. "Aila…! I… Sorry. How long have you been there…?"

"Not long…" Aila frowned deeply. "What's wrong?"

A plethora of emotions flashed through Lea's eyes before he finally sighed and shook his head. "Nothing… it's nothing."

"Obviously it's something, you're mumbling to yourself like a crazy person."

Lea breathed out a shallow laugh. "Ouch…" He looked up at the star-filled sky, and Aila was struck by just how… _sad_ he looked. "I guess… I wasn't expecting to see him, is all."

"Who?"

"Isa."

"…Who?"

"Saïx."

"Oh." This reaction confused Aila. Why would seeing Saïx make Lea so upset? "Xigbar was there too."

Lea rolled his eyes. "I don't give a crap about that guy." He glanced at Aila. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Aila winced, remembering the bullet in her shoulder. "Only a little. Shot me in the shoulder again."

That got Lea to smirk. "Ha, same shoulder?"

Aila crossed her arms with a huff. "Yes." She cocked her head, frowning. Something about the way Lea had mentioned Isa was… really odd, and she wasn't about to let that subject drop so easily. "So… Saïx?"

Lea ran a hand down his face. "Right." He stared off into the distance for a while, long enough that Aila started to wonder if he wasn't going to say anything else. But, finally, he spoke again. "Isa and I. We were… best friends, way back in the day. Before all this Xehanort stuff, before we were Nobodies. I know that, after we became Nobodies, none of us were our best selves. We all did some bad things. But I thought… I mean, obviously he must have woken up like I did: a whole person again. So why would he…?" He sighed and looked away. "…I just never thought the Isa I knew would go back to the other side if we got a second chance."

Aila recalled what Xigbar said, about how he had willingly given up his heart again to rejoin the Organization. So had Saïx done that too…? That… was pretty upsetting, if Lea really had been close friends with him at one point. "Oh…" Ugh, she wished she had something better to say. But it was really hard for her to think of Saïx as anything other than a man who had tried to kill her (and very nearly had done so successfully). But Lea didn't know about that fight, and now really didn't seem like the time to tell him.

Lea seemed to realize at least sort of where Aila's head was, though, and turned to face her again. "I know Saïx is a real asshole. And I mean, I'm not gonna pretend like Isa was perfect. But he… he had a good heart, at one point. I thought once he had that back, maybe he'd… I don't know."

Aila put a hand on his arm. "If you say he had a good heart… then I'm sure he did. Maybe it's all a misunderstanding."

"I don't think so."

"…I'm sorry, Axel." Aila hurriedly corrected herself. "Ah, I mean, Lea."

Lea smirked and held her gaze for a few moments. "You can keep calling me Axel, if you really want to."

Aila quirked a brow. "Really?"

"Yeah… I think, maybe… my happiest memories are from when I was Axel, not from when I was Lea. So maybe it's best to just… keep a good thing going." He laughed hollowly. "How sad is that? My best memories are from when I was a heartless Nobody… What a piece of work. I mean some of my worst ones are from that time too, but… still."

Aila felt like there was a joke to be made about 'Heartless Nobody' but decided to let it slide. "For the record, you never seemed that heartless to me."

Lea smiled sadly. "Funny… I've actually been wondering…" He shook his head. "Never mind." He patted Aila's shoulder. "We should probably get back up there, huh? Sora'll worry if you're not there when he wakes up."

' _If he wakes up,_ ' Aila thought bitterly, but then quickly squashed that thought. Thinking like that wasn't going to help anyone — besides, it wasn't what Sora would do. She knew he would never lose faith in her, so she shouldn't lose faith in him either.

The two of them reentered the tower together. Aila glanced at Axel — she supposed she would go back to thinking of him that way — a few times as they ascended the stairs. She really didn't like the heaviness in his eyes; he seemed so burdened. She took his hand when they were near the top and squeezed it, his emerald eyes flickering to meet hers. "I'm really, really glad you're back, Axel," she said softly.

The heaviness in his eyes ebbed a little. "Thanks, kid. Me too." He smirked. "I mean, I _did_ just save Sora's life for, hm, the second time? What would you all do without me?"

"Die, I guess," Aila replied. "Just no more sacrificing yourself to save us anymore. This last time was great, you're still here and so are we. Keep that up."

Axel scoffed. "Well why don't you guys stop wandering into life threatening situations?"

"Hmmm I dunno, that seems like more work for us."

"Tch."

They opened the door and for half a second Aila thought that maybe, miraculously, everything would be back to normal. But when four sets of eyes turned to look at her and all of them held the same amount of worry and anxious tension as before, she felt herself deflate.

"Hey," she sighed.

"Hi," Mickey replied. "Everything good?"

"Just peachy," Axel grumbled. "Any change in here?"

"No," Mickey sighed.

Aila made her way over to Donald and Goofy. They looked very gloomy, like Axel. She hated seeing them look like that… Maybe she could distract them? She held up a finger as a memory came to her. "Donald, didn't you wake Sora up once by kicking him in the head?"

A short laugh erupted from Donald. "Oh yeah! He wasn't too happy, though."

Goofy smiled, the crease of his brow relaxing a little. "That was an accident that time we all slept on the floor of the cockpit, wasn't it?"

Aila grinned. "Sure, but accident or not, it woke him up, right?"

Donald held up a finger. "So you're saying we should try that again!"

"Hey whoa, I was just bringing up a memory, you're the one suggesting abuse of a defenseless person."

"Let me try it!"

Aila and Goofy laughed as Donald made a show of marching over to Sora and pretending he was going to kick the poor boy.

Axel shook his head. "You guys are weird."

Aila smiled at him. "Laughing with friends helps when you're scared or upset!"

"That's right, Aila," Goofy praised. "That's what Sora would do."

"That's where I learned it!"

"Why am I not surprised," Axel sighed.

A groan made everyone freeze, all of their eyes snapping to Sora. Aila held her breath. Had they all just imagined the sound…?

His fingers twitched.

"SORA!" Donald, Goofy, and Aila shouted, all three of them immediately rushing to their friend and kneeling down before him. His fingers twitched again.

Donald leaned in hopefully. "Hello, anybody home?"

Another groan escaped Sora and then, finally, his eyelids fluttered open. Aila thought she might burst into happy tears when he lifted his head, his blue eyes seeming a bit unfocused as he blinked at them all. "…Guys?"

Donald and Goofy couldn't contain themselves. They lunged at Sora, engulfing him in a huge hug that seemed to knock the breath out of him. "Aw, we knew you'd wake up eventually!" Goofy gushed.

"You kept us waiting forever!" Donald chastised.

"Ack! I can't breathe!" Sora complained, flailing a little from within their hug. They relented, but only for a moment, letting Sora take a breath before hugging him again. Sora laughed and hugged them back this time. "Okay okay, I'm sorry for worrying you!"

They finally pulled away and Sora blinked, his eyes landing on Aila. For a second, his smile seemed to falter, his eyes widening ever so slightly as a number of emotions flickered across his face, too quickly for Aila to identify. But then he was lunging at her and pulling her into a hug, his arms locked tight around her. "You're okay," he breathed, sounding extremely relieved.

Aila was confused. "Wait, I think that's my line…"

She felt Sora chuckle, but he didn't release her yet. His voice sounded watery. "Right, right. Sorry… I'm just glad to see you, that's all."

That didn't clear anything up, but Aila returned his hug anyway, her heart full and warm as she rested her chin on his shoulder. "You sleep too much."

Sora breathed out another laugh and released her, pulling back a little so they could see each other. His eyes looked a little watery, too. "I heard you, you know. When I was fighting Xemnas."

Aila perked up at that. "You did?"

Sora nodded. "Thank you. I felt like I couldn't keep going… but I heard you, and then I knew I could."

Aila smiled, and then bowed her head. "Sorry I couldn't get all the way to you…"

"Don't be. Thank you, really, Aila."

A shadow fell across the teens and they looked up to see Axel smirking down at them. "Gee, way to give us all a scare, Sora."

Sora's jaw dropped, and for a few seconds he just pointed soundlessly at the redhead. When he finally seemed able to make sounds again, they just came out in confused bursts of, "Wha?! You?! But?! Axel?!"

Axel grinned. "It's Lea now. But whatever, call me Axel if you want, I've decided either is fine."

"But aren't you…?"

"Dead? Guess not. Turns out when a Nobody _and_ their Heartless gets destroyed, their original self can come back. So, here I am."

Sora considered this for a moment before springing to his feet and holding out a hand to Axel, grinning from ear to ear. "That's awesome! It's great to see you!"

Axel chuckled and shook Sora's hand, Aila standing as well and casually adding, "He was kinda the one who totally saved you from becoming a Xehanort clone just now too."

Sora's eyes widened. "Really? Wait, what? Did they try to do to me what they did to Xigbar?! Gross!" He seemed to catch himself and turned to Aila, Donald, and Goofy. "Ah, by the way, Xigbar's back too! And he's turning into Xehanort!"

"Yeahh, we know," Aila sighed, crossing her arms in a huff.

"Don't worry, we'll be able to handle him," Mickey said, smiling at Sora. "I'm just glad you're all right, Sora!"

Sora beamed. "Thanks, Your Majesty!" His smile fell as he looked down at Riku, who was still lying on the floor, asleep. He knelt down and poked his friend in the arm. "Hey, Riku, wake up!"

Aila sent a nervous glance Yen Sid's way. "Should we be concerned?"

Yen Sid shook his head. "I do not think so. Let's just give him a few minutes to find his way back."

Sora sighed in relief and stood, and as he did his stomach let out a very loud growl. He chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Ummm when did I last eat anything…?"

Smiling wryly, Yen Sid waved a hand and a small table filled with little sandwiches, sweets, and tea appeared to the side of his desk, along with a few white chairs around it. There was even a whole chocolate cake on the table! "Whoever's hungry, help yourselves."

Sora grinned. "Thanks!"

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aila all rushed to the table and immediately began grabbing things, happily stuffing their faces. To their delight, any time they took a snack or drank any tea, it would immediately and magically be replaced with more. Aila sighed as she took a bite of a blueberry scone that was so light and fluffy that it dissolved like warm butter on her tongue, feeling, finally, albeit temporarily, relieved.

Axel snagged a small sandwich and a white chair from around the table, pulling the chair closer to where Riku was laying. Aila turned to watch him. "Hey, come eat with us!"

Axel straddled the chair, sitting in it backwards so he could watch the still sleeping Riku for any signs of waking. "You four are too rowdy for me, I'm good here."

Aila made a face and mimicked Axel, poorly. "'I hate fun, I'm so cool and edgy, wah wah wah.'" Sora, Donald, and Goofy all snickered. Axel just rolled his eyes and finished off his sandwich.

"Hey!" Sora exclaimed, reaching under the table and pulling out a little white cardboard box. "What's in here?"

"Whatever you might need for a tea party," Yen Sid replied, he and Mickey still over by Riku as well. Apparently they weren't hungry.

Curious, Sora reached into the box and pulled out… red, circular glasses with a fake pink nose and black mustache.

Aila burst out laughing. "Umm…"

Grinning, Sora immediately put the glasses on. "Well well, how do I look? Now I'm sophisticated enough for all this tea, right?"

Aila dissolved into giggles, Donald and Goofy laughing as well. Donald ran a hand down his face as he laughed. "That's not sophisticated!"

"Give me the box!" Aila insisted, snagging it from Sora. She peered into it, but somehow all she could see was shadow. Hm, must be some sort of magic box… She reached into it, her fingers wrapping around something fluffy and soft. She pulled the object out, laughing as she realized it was a pink, feathery boa. "Oh, yes." She immediately wrapped it around her neck and put on a posh voice. "I say, Soranald, we're the only ones who thought to dress up for this party!"

Sora choked a little on the tea he'd been drinking. "Soranald?"

"Like Reginald."

"Who?"

"I dunno, it's a fancy name."

Sora laughed and then put on a posh voice of his own. "Ah, of course, Ailanald."

"Ew, Ailanald sounds gross, it doesn't work."

"And Soranald does?!"

"Besides, don't steal my fancy name ideas!"

The four of them laughed some more, Goofy leaning back in one of the white chairs and sipping his tea contentedly.

"What'd I say? Rowdy," Aila heard Axel mutter to Mickey and Yen Sid, both of whom chuckled.

Okay, so their group was a little loud, but Aila really couldn't care less. She was just so happy that the four of them were all together again! She and Sora cracked a few more jokes about how fancy they were, Goofy goodheartedly agreeing while Donald rolled his eyes at their antics. Sora took the box back and pulled out a red and gold party hat, which he excitedly added to his ensemble as he declared that he was indeed the fanciest at the table. He looked ridiculous. Aila's heart felt so full. This was just like old times. Again, she was struck by just how much she'd _missed_ this. It hadn't been so long since their previous journey, but somehow it felt like an eternity had passed. This felt so good to be acting silly with them all again. Comfortable and warm and good.

Donald pulled the cake toward himself and greedily started just scooping bites of it up with his fork. Seemed he couldn't be bothered to cut a slice…

"Hey, Donald! Come on, you're hogging it all!" Sora whined.

Donald just pulled the cake closer. "Aw, calm down, Sora, and drink your tea."

Goofy laughed. "Gwarsh, it sure is yummy!"

"Mmhmm!" Aila agreed, sipping her own tea. It tasted like milk and cinnamon, and left her insides feeling pleasantly warm.

"Hey!"

Everyone jumped in surprise and turned toward Riku, who, to their delight, was sitting up, awake and alert!

Sora removed his hat and glasses. "Riku…" he breathed, smiling. "You're safe!" He launched himself toward his oldest friend, locking his arms around Riku's neck as he laughed. "Riku!"

Riku flailed a little, nearly knocked over by Sora's enthusiastic hug. "Wait, haven't we got this backwards?" Sora pulled away a little, grinning at Riku, who just looked entirely confused as he continued, "And, why are you having a tea party?"

"You're safe, Riku!" Sora cheered in reply, hugging him again. Aila laughed.

Riku sighed, putting a hand to his head. "Ah, never mind. You okay? Feeling alright?"

Sora smiled and pulled back again, pumping a fist. "Yeah, I've never been better. I was watching what was going on in my dream. And I could hear your voice the whole time. Thanks, Riku." Riku smiled and nodded, and Sora turned to the rest of the room. "Thanks, everybody!"

Everyone beamed, Aila sharing a happy look with Donald and Goofy. She knew, in the back of her mind, that everything they'd learned today was going to mean a lot of work. But for the moment, things felt right. Everyone was okay, and together, and it had all worked out!

"Oh yeah!" Sora said, looking up at Yen Sid. "Did we pass the test?"

Oh, right. This had all started because Sora and Riku were taking a test. Aila cocked her head, having almost entirely forgotten about that. Things had really gone off the rails in the past… day.

Yen Sid smiled. "You performed truly admirably, both of you."

Sora and Riku shared a happy look before they both sprung to their feet and practically raced to the front of Yen Sid's desk, standing at attention, waiting to hear their results. Everyone else in the room gathered to the side, Aila placing her fluffy boa on one of the tea table chairs as she hurried to join them. Axel returned to his leaning-against-the-wall-like-Leon position, again, too cool to stand with the group. Aila rolled her eyes.

Yen Sid took a seat behind his desk and cleared his throat. "More than anything, I am grateful to have both of you back from Xehanort's deception unharmed." He turned toward Axel. "And I am grateful to Lea, whose spontaneous actions turned the tides."

Axel smiled and looked away, seeming a little embarrassed. Aila flashed him a thumbs up, which he rolled his eyes at, though his smile remained.

Yen Sid frowned then, bowing his head. "I am also deeply sorry, for failing to perceive the danger, and throwing you headlong into a perilous test. This experience has revealed many hidden truths, and we must gird ourselves for the great clash with darkness that lies before us."

Aila fiddled with her gloves and chewed on the inside of her cheek, the seriousness of their situation once again making itself known. Well, it had been nice to feel carefree for at least a handful of minutes…

Yen Sid looked up at the boys. "I believe we need a new Keyblade Master, one with a new kind of power. Sora and Riku, you both deserve the honor. However, one of you braved the realm of sleep again to unlock the final Keyhole and save a friend."

A pinprick of confusion formed within Aila. Wait, this was sounding like he was about to only give it to…

"Riku," Yen Sid declared. "I name you our new true Keyblade Master."

Silence enveloped the room. Aila thought, surely, that Yen Sid was only pausing for dramatic effect, and was about to say that Sora was _also_ a true Keyblade Master.

But he didn't.

Aila shared a glance with Donald and Goofy, who both looked just as shocked as she felt. Did this mean… Sora _didn't_ pass the test? What?! Wait. That seemed… unfair. His test had been hijacked! She felt suddenly very defensive about this decision, just barely keeping herself from demanding that Yen Sid reconsider. Her eyes darted to Sora, worried about the disappointment she was sure he would be feeling. But, to her surprise, Sora looked positively ecstatic.

Sora turned to Riku, beaming from ear to ear. "Way to go, Riku!" he shouted, laughing as he wrapped an arm around his best friend.

Riku looked concerned, eyeing Sora like he, too, had expected Sora to take this news much harder. "Y-yeah…?"

Sora pumped a fist. "I _knew_ you were gonna pass with flying colors! This is just so awesome!"

Goofy quirked a brow. "Gee, Sora, you're kinda acting like it's you that passed."

Donald lifted his hands in a shrug. "I told ya Sora still needed some practice."

"Hey!" Sora replied, half offended.

Aila scoffed at Donald. "When did you say that?"

"When you weren't listening, probably."

Aila glared.

"Really…?" Riku breathed, and everyone looked to him. He seemed confused. "I'm a… Keyblade Master?"

As annoyed as Aila was about Sora not passing, that feeling ebbed a bit as she realized just how happy she was that _Riku_ had passed. He really did deserve it. Well, they both did, but better one than none.

Mickey approached Riku and held out a hand. "Congratulations, Riku!"

Riku hesitated, apparently in shock. Aila remembered what he had said before the test had started — about how he wasn't sure he was worthy of the Keyblade. That thought made her smile even more, her heart swelling. Now he had to _know_ that he was worthy — he officially had the title of Master! There was no better indication than that!

Finally, a smile blossomed onto Riku's face, and he knelt down to take Mickey's hand. "Thank you, Mickey." He smiled up at everyone. "I owe it… to my friends." Sora beamed even more.

"Ah, I'll catch up with ya in no time flat," Axel declared, still leaning against the wall in his cool guy pose.

"What?!" Sora gasped. "You wanna be a Keyblade Master?" Oh, right, he'd missed this development.

"Yeah," Axel replied with a shrug. "I mean, I came here to learn how to wield one."

"YOU?!" Sora and Riku exclaimed together. Oh. Ha. They'd _both_ missed this development.

"Hey, thanks for the vote of confidence," Axel replied, putting his hands on his hips. Aila giggled, but quickly stifled herself when he shot her a glare. Axel huffed. "You know, I was gonna come swooping in, Keyblade in hand. But I just couldn't get mine to materialize." He lifted his right hand and glared at it a little. "Must be in the snap of the wrist or something…" He stuck his hand out in front of him and closed his fist, and as he did, almost as if on cue, a Keyblade materialized in his grasp.

"WHOA!" everyone exclaimed together, Aila going so far as to jump up and down in her excitement. Axel's Keyblade was AWESOME! The handle looked just like one of his chakrams, and the blade looked like a metal burst of red-orange fire that curled up at the tip in multiple sharp spikes of sculpted flames.

"Ahhh!" Aila gushed, rushing to Axel and crushing him with a hug, which made him stumble a little. He seemed more shocked than anyone that a Keyblade had actually materialized for him. "I knew you could do it! See! I told you!" Aila pulled away, beaming, and hopped up and down a little again. "Okay, okay, unlock something!"

Axel huffed, looking a little embarrassed by the excitement. "What? No."

"Why not?! If I had a Keyblade I'd unlock everything!"

"There's nothing here to unlock!"

"You don't know that, let's find you a lock. Master Yen Sid, where's the nearest lock?!"

"No, shut up, I'll do that later." Axel dismissed his Keyblade and folded his arms stubbornly.

Aila pouted. "You're so boring! Do something cool!"

Axel reached over and grabbed Aila's hood, pulling it up and over her head and down over her eyes. "Were you always this bossy? Sheesh."

Aila flailed, finally pushing his hand away and brushing her hood back down over her shoulders. She glared playfully. "Bossy? Maybe I learned that from you."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Tch. No way." He turned to Yen Sid, the shine in his eyes giving away how excited he actually was about finally summoning his Keyblade. "Uh, looks like maybe I should get back to training before I forget how I just did that…"

Yen Sid nodded, smiling as well. "Very good idea. Come, I will send you back to Radiant Garden."

Axel hurriedly followed Yen Sid back into the side room, Aila blinking after them. Wait, Radiant Garden was where he was training? Good, she'd probably be heading back that way soon, and then she would _definitely_ get him to unlock something. That was obviously the number one thing to try once you could summon a giant key, duh.

"Well that was crazy," Donald muttered, still quirking a brow at the door Axel had disappeared through.

"Everyone's getting a Keyblade," Aila whined. "It's not fair!"

"You want one too?" Sora asked.

"Of course I do! They're the coolest things ever!"

Sora grinned cockily and nudged Riku. "Hear that, Aila thinks we're cool."

Donald rolled his eyes. "She said _Keyblades_ were cool, not you."

Sora huffed. "Yeah but that's what she meant. Right Aila, riiiight?"

Aila studied him for a few seconds, narrowing her eyes as she made a show of thinking her answer over. "Hmmm… Maybe if 'cool' means something different here than it did on my world…"

"Hey!"

Aila snickered. "Just kidding, of course I think you're cool."

Sora struck a triumphant pose. "I knew it!" He cocked his head. "But if you really want a Keyblade, why don't you do whatever Axel's doing?"

Aila glanced at Mickey, who scratched his cheek a little sheepishly. She sighed. "I'm not allowed."

"Well we didn't say _that_ ," Mickey pointed out. "Just, um, we recommend against it. For now, at least. You've got enough responsibilities as a partner to a Spirit. In fact, I can't think of ever hearing of any Spirit holding a Keyblade…"

"Booo," Aila whined, pouting.

"Don't worry, Aila!" Goofy said, patting her on the back. "Donald and I don't have Keyblades either!"

Aila smiled. "That's true. We should form a non-Keyblader club!"

"Yeah!" Donald cheered.

Sora suddenly looked upset. "Hey, hey, don't form a club without me!"

"Let's come up with a secret handshake!" Aila gushed to Donald and Goofy, blatantly ignoring Sora.

"No fair!"

Aila couldn't stop smiling as Sora did his very best to convince them to let him into their club that didn't even exist, he and Donald playfully arguing back and forth about whether or not a Keyblader who didn't pass his Keyblade test qualified for membership. She caught Riku's eye and grinned even wider, and he smiled gently back.

And for one more moment, everything was fine.

KHKHKHKH

It was some time later when Aila found herself outside again, spinning in slow circles as she allowed small bits of Light to flutter off her palms and float into the air around her like beautiful, tiny bubbles. She knew Mickey didn't want her using her powers unless she had to, but she just couldn't resist. It wasn't like she was using a _lot_ of Light, and it just made her feel so much more at ease. She was trying to hold on to that feeling of joy and completion they had achieved by successfully waking Sora and Riku up, but already it was beginning to slip.

Sora had, unfortunately, left shortly after the results of the test had been issued, assuring everyone that he'd "be back soon." He had some sort of loose end he wanted to tie up, which he hadn't really elaborated on, and had also wanted to test out a skill Yen Sid had mentioned Keybladers possessed: apparently, if he was the only one traveling, he could open a pathway to another world and basically warp there, as long as he knew which world he was going to. That was cool and all, but it meant Aila, Donald, and Goofy couldn't come with him. Ugh. Aila kind of wondered if he just wanted to be away from everyone for a little bit — even though he was acting totally okay with it, she was sure he was at least a _tiny_ bit upset about not passing his test.

Everyone else was talking to Yen Sid about… something. Aila didn't really have it in her to get any more new information today, so she'd offered to stay outside to "greet Sora when he got back". A very thin excuse, but it had worked nonetheless. Everyone probably saw right through her, but nobody called her out, thankfully.

The image of all those hooded Organization members staring down at Aila and her friends in that white room kept flashing through her mind, and she kept forcing herself not to think on it for too long. The chances of more of the old Organization members being revived and rejoining their ranks… it was super low, right? Probably not even worth imagining.

But… but what if…

The Light bubbles around her suddenly all burst in tiny little flashes, like miniature fireworks. Aila yelped and recoiled, pulling her arms in toward her face and blinking hard — she had been staring right at a few of the bubbles when they'd decided to go haywire. She breathed out a half-curse. Yen Sid was right — maybe she _did_ still have a ways to go with mastering her powers, especially without Celina to guide her…

"You okay?"

Startled, Aila instinctively jumped back from the voice, realizing mid-step that she had been pretty close to the edge of the grassy section of world Yen Sid's tower existed on. She gasped and tried to reverse her movement, still not fully able to see and worried that she might be about to fall off the world completely. A hand locked around her wrist and pulled her back to a balanced state, and she blinked a few more times as Riku's face finally came into focus.

Aila smiled sheepishly. "Um… how many times is that you've kept me from falling off something now?"

Riku chuckled. "I lost count."

"That means it's a high number."

Riku smirked and shrugged noncommittally. Aila glanced over her shoulder and realized, with a bit of embarrassment, that she actually wasn't that close to the edge after all. So she'd freaked out for nothing. Whoops. She pulled her wrist out of Riku's grasp and cleared her throat awkwardly. "So, uh… anyway. Sora's not back yet, if you came to check on that…"

"Actually, Master Yen Sid asked me to go on an errand, and I thought you might want to join me."

Aila quirked a brow. "An errand…? Like, what, to get him some milk and eggs?"

Riku breathed out a laugh. "Not that kind of errand. It shouldn't take long — wanna come? I think it might do us both some good to get out of here for at least a few minutes. I think Sora had the right idea… A lot just happened, and there's not much to do here but think about it all."

Aila mulled that over for a few seconds, but then nodded. That did sound like a good idea — if she kept thinking about Xehanort and the Organization and this huge battle looming on the horizon when they didn't even have a real plan yet, she might start freaking out. "Sure. We taking a ship?"

Riku held up the Star Shard.

Aila immediately changed her mind. "Oh, no no no, I'm not using that demon rock. I'll just stay here."

Riku smirked. "This will be much faster, and apparently it'll get easier the more we use it. Mickey just explained everything to me about how it works, so it should be easy." Riku held out his free hand. "Come on, don't you wanna know what my mystery errand is?"

Aila ran a hand through her bangs. "…Ugh. _Fine_. But if I throw up I'm blaming you."

Riku didn't seem very concerned, still patiently offering his hand to her. She finally took it, once again a little thrown off by the warmth of his fingers around hers. Even his fingers felt strong. Could fingers have muscles? 'Stop thinking about weird things,' she internally berated, keeping her eyes on the Star Shard as Riku prepared to activate it and really hoping that the heat in her cheeks wasn't visible.

"Don't let go," Riku instructed softly as he closed his eyes and brought the Star Shard to his chest.

Blue light engulfed them both, and then together, they left the world behind.

KHKHKHKH

Okay, before anyone gets mad about Aila not going with Riku, here's my reasoning:

When Riku dives into Sora, there is ONE battle and then he just answers some questions on the beach; it's a super short section of the game. It just felt like it would be SO BORING to write Aila into it, and I don't have any more original plot stuff planned for her until a few chapters from now, so there was no benefit to her going. Besides, I really wanted to give her and Riku separate moments with Sora when he woke up.

But! It's okay! Aila and Riku are about to spend some more time together in the next chapter, and I think it's gonna be much more fun to read about than her going with him here would have been. It should be a cute little short errand together.

We're in like a weird little interim right now between Dream Drop and KH3, so… I'm doing my best to bridge them in a fun way (yes, I know 0.2 happens between those two kind of, I'll work in at least a cutscene or two from that as well). Think of the next chapter as kind of the end of the prologue arc — after that, we'll finally hit the ground running! Yay!

Again, thank you so much for reading; I'm sorry that I'm sometimes slow to replying to PMs or reviews, but I'm trying to get to them all! I hope you guys liked this chapter, and I'll see you for the next one in a few weeks :)

Til then!

~Fade


	12. Destiny's Embrace

Heyyy… Sooo… Hi.

…I'm so sorry! I know it's been more than two or three weeks. It's been like… six? Ahh! I know you've all heard all the excuses before. Work has been crazy busy for me recently, but I've been trying really hard to write this whenever I can! Sometimes I could only write like a paragraph at a time but I was working on it, I swear! I also really don't like to update until the chapter feels good to me. So uh…! I'm sorry! But here it is! And it's nearly 40 pages! I actually planned the chapter to end a little after it does here but 40 pages is a lot and I couldn't stand not updating for another week. I hope you can all forgive me and that this is worth the wait!

Thank you SO much to everyone who reviewed! There are a lot of new readers that have recently binged this whole thing from the start of the original story, so hi! I'm happy you're here :) I'll try not to keep you waiting so long in the future.

Before we get started, FANART! I have to share this GORGEOUS painting made by astroe091 of Aila in the outfit Celina gave her at the end of the previous story. It's BEAUTIFUL, thank you so much for painting it, astroe! To see it, please follow this link:

instagram (dotcom) /p/ByYVqSRiOgv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

If that link doesn't work, the instagram name is sta_cata25 - you can find it that way, too! Thank you again, astroe, I love it.

Now, on to the chapter! I really hope this is worth the wait for you all.

* * *

" _Destiny is real. And she's not mild-mannered. She will come around and hit you in the face and knock you over and before you know what hit you, you're naked- stripped of everything you thought you knew and everything you thought you didn't know- and there you are! A bloody nose, bruises all over you, and naked. And it's the most beautiful thing._ _"_

― C. JoyBell C.

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Destiny's Embrace**

"I hate it I hate it I hate it I hate it," Aila mumbled into the thankfully soft patch of warm sand she had been thrown into, her head spinning and heart pounding in her ears.

She heard Riku chuckle from somewhere nearby. "Yeah, that wasn't much better than the first time after all…"

Grumbling and already dreading the fact that in order to get _back_ from this errand they were going to have to use the Star Shard for a _third time_ , Aila pushed herself into a sitting position and woozily brushed grains of sand from her face and hair. She blinked a few times and took a deep breath, trying to help her stomach settle as she took in her surroundings. Clean ocean air filled her lungs and immediately made her feel a bit better. A smile spread across her face — she recognized this beach. "Destiny Islands!" She quirked a brow as she glanced at Riku, who was sitting a few feet away and brushing sand from his hair as well. "Yen Sid wants something from here?"

"Not some _thing_ ," Riku said, standing and offering a hand to Aila. She accepted and he pulled her to her feet. "We're here to get Kairi."

Aila gasped. "Really?! Kairi's coming? Yes!" She stopped cheering for a moment to once again quirk her brow at Riku. "How come? She's not in danger, right?"

Riku frowned a little. "I hope not… Master Yen Sid didn't say why he wanted to see her."

"Ah…" Aila glanced around the beach, already searching for the redhead they were here to find. They were on the side of the play island that Aila had actually never been to before. A cluster of palm trees were growing behind her — the best place to find some coconuts for the raft! And to the left of those was a cave where a mushroom was hiding, and the zipline up above was a great way to beat Riku in a race, and…! Aila shook her head a few times; she was getting way too caught up in memories of playing the first Kingdom Hearts. But she couldn't shake the grin off her face — it was just so cool to see everything in real life! The last time she had been to this island she hadn't taken any time to explore…

"Everything okay…?" Riku asked slowly, and Aila realized with a start that he was staring at her.

She hurriedly forced her stupid grin into a more natural (hopefully) expression. "Huh, what? Yes of course, all good here."

Riku's lips twitched in amusement. "You recognizing things here, or…?"

Aila immediately felt her face start to burn. Jeez, Riku saw through her so fast! "…I-it's just, I hadn't seen this part of the island in person until now, is all… And it's kinda cool…" She cleared her throat awkwardly and hurriedly brushed past Riku in the direction of the door she knew led to the other side of the island. "I don't see Kairi so let's keep looking."

Riku breathed out a soft laugh. "I would offer to lead the way, but I feel like you don't need me to."

Aila glanced awkwardly over her shoulder at him. "…I feel like I spied on you guys now that I know you're real…"

Riku smirked. "Yeah, you kinda did."

"Hey! You're supposed to disagree!"

"Why would I disagree with something that's true?" Riku patted Aila's shoulder as he passed her, still smirking. "Come on, you're right, let's try the other side of the island." Aila was happy to let him pass her — it was easier to hide the growing redness in her cheeks if she was behind him.

They hopped across the broken remains of a wooden pier, Aila being perhaps a bit too cautious about where she stepped (hey, she knew that part of this thing might fall off at any moment!) and made their way through the doorway that separated the two sides of the island. The sun was high in the cloudless blue sky, its rays feeling pleasantly warm on Aila's skin as she followed Riku down the beach. She veered a bit closer to the water, liking the way the damp sand held her footprints. A handful of seagulls cawed as they flew overhead, and a soft breeze blew Aila's bangs very gently across her face. This place was so peaceful and nice. It must have been really cool to grow up here.

As she and Riku walked under the bridge that connected the infamous little round islet to the rest of this island, she finally started to hear the sound of other people playing nearby. Curious, she peaked around Riku, her eyes widening as they fell upon a handful of people she definitely recognized.

There was Kairi, first of all, sitting on the wall at the far edge of the sand, kicking her feet lazily back and forth as she laughed at something the girl sitting by her side had said. Aila immediately knew the second girl: Selphie, one of Sora, Riku, and Kairi's friends from school. Her shoulder length brown hair curled out at the ends, brown sandals dangling casually off her feet. A bright yellow skirt settled around her thighs, and Aila could see the straps of a yellow swim suit beneath the white halter top she had on. She was grinning and giggling with Kairi about whatever they were talking about.

A bit further down the beach were a boy with shaggy, dirty blond hair, Tidus, and a taller, tanner boy with orange hair that was styled into a point, Wakka. Two more friends of the Island trio. They seemed to be in the middle of a rather intense back and forth with a blue and white ball, neither seeming to have much luck in kicking it past the other. Tidus was wearing what appeared to be black swim trunks and nothing else, a nearby white vest and black sandals resting in a haphazard pile on the sand. Wakka, too, was wearing only a pair of goldenrod swim shorts and a single piece of dark blue fabric tied around his forehead, a yellow shirt and pair of sandals also discarded nearby. They must have been swimming not long ago.

Selphie was the first to spot the newcomers. "Oh! Riku!" she greeted, lifting her hand in a wave. She cocked her head when she spotted Aila, but her smile remained.

Kairi pushed herself off the wall and rushed across the sand to Riku, engulfing him in a hug. "You're back!" Riku smiled and returned the hug before Kairi moved to Aila. "Aila, hi!"

Aila stumbled slightly when Kairi hugged her as well, but quickly regained her composure and hugged the older girl back. "H-hey, how's it going?"

Kairi pulled back, her hands still on Aila's shoulders as she smiled down at her. "Fine." She blinked and looked over Aila's shoulder, her smile falling. "Where's Sora…?"

"He's fine," Riku assured immediately. "Just taking care of something, don't worry."

Selphie sauntered up to the group, beaming up at Riku. "Hiya, Riku! How you been?"

"Pretty good," Riku replied casually. "You?"

"Same old, same old," Selphie replied with a wave of her hand. Her attention shifted to Aila. "Hi there, I'm Selphie!"

"Right," Aila replied automatically. There was a pause before she realized that, wait, she hadn't actually met Selphie before and should probably say something else? "UM I mean, hi, nice to meet you! I'm, um, Aila."

Selphie cocked her head ever so slightly while Kairi stifled a laugh. Aila didn't even have to look at Riku to know he was smirking at her.

Aila cleared her throat and decided maybe she should add something else to explain why she might have already known Selphie's name. "I've heard a lot about you from, uh, Sora and these guys."

Selphie's face relaxed into a smile again. "Really? Hmm only good things, I hope," she teased, putting her hands on her hips and looking pointedly between Riku and Kairi.

"Of course," Kairi laughed, playing along gracefully. In reality, Sora had mentioned Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka maybe a handful of times? But nothing very substantial. And Riku and Kairi had never talked to Aila about them at all. Not that she'd hung out with the two of them that much before today, but still.

Tidus and Wakka seemed to have noticed the new people on the beach at this point and were both making their way over. "Hey man!" Tidus greeted Riku, Wakka waving a few steps behind as he continued to toss the ball up and down with his other hand. Tidus's eyes flickered to Aila. "Oh? Who's this?" He looked to Riku again. "Did you get a girlfriend?!"

Aila practically jumped out of her skin at the accusation, heat from embarrassment once again engulfing her entire being (she was starting to think maybe she was doomed to just be perpetually embarrassed around Riku). "U-uh…! No?! What?!"

"We're just friends," Riku translated, seeming like he was trying very hard not to laugh. This time Kairi had much less luck stifling her own giggles.

"Oh," Tidus said, seeming oblivious to the incredible awkwardness he'd called forth. He grinned at Aila and sauntered closer to her, extending one hand as he ran his other through his bangs. "In that case, hey there, I'm Tidus, what's your name?"

"A-Aila," Aila mumbled, still feeling super embarrassed as she shook his hand.

"Wow, what a pretty name!" Tidus gushed, a lopsided grin spreading across his face. He not-so-subtly raised an arm to show off a slight muscle. "Did you see me schooling this guy at one-on-one Blitzball earlier? I know, I know, I'm pretty good."

"I beat you," Wakka deadpanned.

Selfie grabbed Tidus's ear and pulled, eliciting a pained yelp from the boy. "Cut that out! Stop hitting on every girl who crosses your path!"

"Ahhh Selphieeee!" Tidus whined, struggling to escape. He pouted heavily when she finally released him, rubbing his ear. "I wasn't hitting on anyone."

Selfie just glared. "Tch. We all have eyes, you loser. No girl is gonna feel special if you try to date literally everyone. What, have you gone through everyone on the Island already and now you're even aiming at visitors? Stupid…" Kairi and Riku shared a glance before chuckling at some kind of inside joke.

Wakka bounced the ball off the back of Tidus's head and caught it with a smirk, Tidus whining in protest as Wakka turned his attention to Aila. "Sorry 'bout him. I'm Wakka. So, Aila, first time to the Island?"

"Ummm yeah," Aila said, eying Tidus with apprehensive confusion before returning her focus to the current conversation. "Riku was um… showing me around." A vague lie. Did these three know about other worlds? She felt like they didn't.

Wakka looked to Riku. "Ah, ya? I didn't know you were back from your trip."

"I'm not really," Riku replied. "I'm actually just here to pick up Kairi — turns out there's another spot open in the program, if she wants it."

Program? Aila tried not to look confused. Riku apparently already had a lie going for the people around here, and she didn't want to mess it up.

Kairi's eyes lit up. "Really?!"

Riku smiled and nodded. "Really. Interested?"

Kairi looked ecstatic. "Of course!"

"Aw man, no fair!" Tidus whined.

" _You_ wanna do research for some off-island company?" Selfie asked, quirking a brow at him.

Tidus grinned. "I do if it means missing school!"

Selfie rolled her eyes. "It's for school credit, so it still sounds like a lot of work…"

Tidus considered this before turning to Riku. "Is it more work than school?"

"I'd say so."

"Oh. Then you guys have fun with that."

Wakka stretched and let out a sigh. "I dunno about all you, but I'm starving. Wanna grab some lunch?"

"Sure!" Selfie replied with a grin.

"I should probably let my parents know about the program," Kairi said, declining the invitation.

Selfie frowned. "Oh, wait, are you leaving right away?"

"Yeah, the sooner the better," Riku replied. "But we'll be back."

Tidus grinned. "And we'll be waiting! You and Sora still owe me and Wakka a rematch, you know."

Riku smirked. "Don't worry, we haven't forgotten."

Tidus smiled at Aila and opened his mouth to say something, but was thwarted by Selphie's hand slamming over his lips. She shot him another glare before smiling sweetly at Aila. "Nice meeting you, Aila! Hopefully we'll see you again soon!"

Aila eyed the two of them with mild amusement. "Uh, yeah, I hope so too. Ummm good meeting you?"

Tidus, Wakka, and Selfie all bid their goodbyes before rushing off to the dock, untying their individual little boats, and rowing back to the mainland for some food, Tidus and Selphie seemingly bickering a little as they went with Wakka chuckling beside them. As soon as they were out of earshot Aila glanced at Riku. "Research?"

Riku shrugged. "We had to think of a reason to be gone for a little while. Mickey came up with it."

"Am I really going with you?" Kairi asked breathlessly. "Where? And why? I don't really know what help I can offer…"

"Master Yen Sid specifically requested you," Riku replied kindly. "But that's where my information ends. We'll have to see what he says when we get back."

Kairi suddenly looked a little nervous. "You're sure Sora isn't in trouble…?" She put a hand to her chest and bowed her head a little. "I woke up this morning feeling like something was wrong…"

Aila cocked her head. "Huh, that's interesting… Well, he _was_ in trouble this morning, but he's not any more." She doubled down when she saw the panic in Kairi's face. "Really, he's fine! There was a problem with a test he and Riku were taking, that's all! But we fixed it, so no worries!"

"Test?" Kairi asked.

Aila nodded. "To see if they could be named True Keyblade Masters."

Kairi's eyes widened and she glanced eagerly between Riku and Aila. "And…?"

Aila grinned and gestured grandly to Riku. "You're looking at a Master!"

Kairi squealed and launched herself at Riku, gripping him in a very tight hug. "Oh, Riku! That's wonderful! Congratulations!"

Riku looked a bit embarrassed by the excitement. "Ah, thanks…"

Kairi pulled away. "And Sora?"

Aila sighed. "Well… no. Which I think is super unfair, since his test got messed up! But I guess he can always become a Master later…"

"He will," Riku assured with a confident nod.

Kairi nodded. "I agree." She beamed at Riku. "Well, I'm _so_ happy for you, Riku. You deserve it, really."

Riku looked awfully touched. "Thanks, Kairi."

"So, should we go?" Aila asked.

Kairi shook her head. "No, I really do need to tell my parents I'm leaving."

"Oh," Aila replied, feeling a little stupid. Of course Kairi should tell her parents before just randomly disappearing; that was what a kid with parents around was supposed to do. A pang of guilt struck Aila's heart and she quickly forced a smile, doing her best to hide any real emotion that might have leaked onto her face. "Right, duh! So, uh, do you want us to wait here, or…?"

"No, you can come, of course!" Kairi replied. "I'm sure they'd love to meet you. And it _is_ lunch time, so maybe we can eat before we go. Unless we're in a huge rush?"

"Seemed like we had a little time, at least enough to eat," Riku said with a nod. "Let's head to the mainland."

Aila followed Riku and Kairi to the dock. Three little boats were tied to the pier, bobbing in the gentle, crystal clear shallows.

"You can take Sora's boat, Aila," Kairi said, already hopping into her own boat with practiced ease.

"Why's Sora's boat here…?" Aila asked.

"Mickey landed the Gummi Ship on this island, so we left from here," Riku explained, not in his own boat yet for some reason. "Less people around."

"Ah…" Aila eyed the little boat warily. It hardly looked like it would be able to hold her weight. But she was lighter than Sora, and supposedly it held him okay, and Kairi's boat seemed to still be afloat even with her inside…

Aila knelt down to untie Sora's boat but was immediately stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Riku was smirking down at her. "You should get in first and then untie it — otherwise it'll float away without you."

Aila chuckled awkwardly. "Oh, uh, right, that makes sense…" She stood and then hesitated again. The pier was very steady, and the boat looked very… not.

"Need some help?" Riku asked. Aila was beginning to suspect he hadn't gotten in his boat yet because he figured she might need assistance… Her pride stung a little bit — it was just getting into a silly boat, she could do that, right?

"I-I got it," Aila insisted, facing the boat again with newfound determination. She lifted a foot and then hesitated again. The boat was floating kinda perpendicular to the pier — should she step on the closest end, or kinda jump to get into the middle?

"If you pull it closer it'll be easier!" Kairi encouraged, sitting patiently in her boat.

Aila quickly nodded and knelt down to do just that, pulling the boat so it was parallel to the pier. Yes, that _did_ seem easier now. Still, she hesitated.

Riku knelt down next to her grabbed the edge of the boat. "I'll hold it, okay?"

Aila glanced at him and nodded. "…Okay." She stood and, taking a deep breath, decided to just go for it. She hurriedly stepped into the boat and immediately stumbled to her knees, her balance completely thrown off despite her best attempts to mentally prep herself. She gripped the side of the boat nervously, but Riku held it steady, preventing too much rocking.

"You're in!" Kairi cheered.

Aila smiled nervously back. "Heh… I guess that wasn't so bad."

"You've never been in a boat before, huh?" Kairi asked with a kind smile.

"Well not one this small… Ships are fine, but this seems like it's gonna tip over or sink or something…"

"Don't tell Sora that, he built it himself," Riku chuckled, climbing into his own boat now.

"Really?"

"Yeah, we all built these one summer together, years ago," Kairi replied, running her fingers fondly along her boat's edge. "It's pretty faded from all the salt, but I think you can still see Sora's name in his. He carved it a bunch of times."

Aila looked a little closer at the weathered wood of the little boat and, sure enough, a rather crude etching of Sora's name could be seen on the floor of the front of the boat, as well as a smaller version along the left edge, and maybe another extremely faded one on the right edge. She imagined a tiny Sora insisting on carving his name all over the boat, just to make sure everyone knew it was his. She giggled.

"Okay, ready?" Riku asked, getting Aila's attention again. "There should be a paddle under the seat."

Aila located said paddle and lifted it. "Check!"

Riku smirked. "Great. Now, untie the boat."

Aila carefully leaned forward, following Riku and Kairi's lead and untying the rope connecting her boat to the dock. Kairi helped instruct her a little on how to use the paddle to angle her boat toward the open sea and then they were off, aiming for a beach that seemed pretty freaking far away on a much larger island in the distance. Thankfully the sea was calm, and it wasn't that hard to get into the rhythm of paddling. Riku and Kairi were clearly pros, their boats cutting through the water with deceptive ease.

"So, uh, you guys don't get sharks around here, right?" Aila called up to the two of them, her boat a bit behind the other two.

"Not too often," Kairi called back.

Aila immediately started searching the sea around them for any signs of a fin. "That answer is not the same as 'no'…" Her last encounter with a shark hadn't exactly been fun.

"Don't worry, we're halfway already," Riku assured, and Aila was surprised to see that he was right. Huh. Guess the islands weren't as far away from each other as they looked.

Aila followed Riku and Kairi to the beach, the three of them paddling until their boats slid into the sand of the shore. They pulled the boats up a ways farther onto the dry sand, lining them up next to each other in front of a simple, white wooden fence that seemed to separate the beach from a neighborhood.

"We can just leave them here?" Aila asked when Riku and Kairi started walking away.

"Sure," Riku replied. "If a storm was coming we might bring them home, but it doesn't look like we need to today. Besides, we'll need to use them again later."

Huh. Guess they weren't worried about anyone stealing their boats or anything. They must trust everyone on the mainland. That was nice — this really did seem like a nice place to live.

The three of them entered the neighborhood at the edge of the beach via a dirt road, little stone houses with brown, shingled roofs scattered here and there on either side. It was quiet, and very peaceful, a few seagulls cawing as they sailed overhead, a pleasant breeze tickling Aila's neck. Kairi and Riku both waved to an older woman hanging her laundry, the woman smiling and waving back. A sense of comfort filled Aila, and she found herself wondering why the trio had ever wanted to leave this place so badly.

"I'm gonna go tell my parents I'll be gone a little longer," Riku said when they reached a fork in the road. "Sora's mom, too."

"Okay," Kairi agreed. "Meet us at my house?"

"Got it."

Aila followed Kairi down the left fork, which sloped upward toward a house that sat at the top of what seemed to be maybe the tallest hill around. They made a little small talk on the way, Kairi smiling ear to ear the entire time — seemed she could barely contain her excitement at the prospect of finally being asked to go with Sora and Riku, even if the full details of why were still a mystery.

Aila turned to look out at the sea when they finally reached the top of the hill, her eyes widening as she took in the town from this perspective. She felt like she could see everything from here; the sea, the houses, even a what seemed to be a more active area of town and a small port in the distance.

"It's a great view, right?" Kairi asked, having paused next to Aila. "Apparently Mom had her eye on this house ever since she was my age, and she bought it right before they found me."

"Found you…?" Aila asked, glancing at Kairi. Her eyes widened as she remembered. "Oh! You were adopted! I forgot about that — so was I!"

"Really?" Kairi asked, her eyes lighting up. "Oh, that's right, you aren't originally from your world either, so that would make sense…" She gazed out at the shore, her vision softening with memory. "I washed up on the beach one day, and my mom found me, and that was that. I guess I was from another world, but I didn't remember anything…" She let out a soft laugh. "I wish I had seen the look on Dad's face when Mom walked in with a daughter she'd just happened to find. Apparently it wasn't even really a discussion, they just… became my parents that day."

Aila smiled. "That's so awesome. They must be great people."

Kairi grinned. "They are. Come on, I think they're off today, so they should both be here."

She led the way to the front door of the house and opened it, calling inside, "Mom, Dad! I'm home!" Aila followed her in to a little entryway, a set of stairs straight ahead. The walls were a soft off-white, pictures of smiling people hung in nearly every empty space. There were open doorways to the left and right just before the stairway, perhaps to a kitchen on one side and living room on the other.

"Kairi, just in time!" came a woman's voice from the room on the left. "I'm about to make lunch!"

"I brought a friend, is that okay?" Kairi called, removing her shoes by the door. Aila quickly followed her lead, not wanting to be rude. "And Riku is stopping by soon too!"

The unseen woman laughed. "Alright, good thing I haven't started cooking yet. Let me get a bigger pot."

Aila became immediately distracted by the photographs on the wall. Many of them showed Kairi at various ages with a tall, brunette woman and a dusty-haired man with deep smile lines around his eyes. Those must be her parents. But Aila was most interested in the photos of little Kairi, Sora, and Riku. There were so many of them! Lots of them playing at the beach, one of them in some kind of blanket fort, and one particularly adorable one of the three of them on what looked like the first day of school. Sora and Kairi seemed to be around eight or nine, Riku a year older, all of them in button up white short-sleeved uniform shirts. Sora and Riku had on knee length dark blue shorts, while Kairi sported a plaid blue skirt. Sora was in the center, eyes shut tight and grinning as wide as he could, his tiny fingers clutched around the straps of his backpack. Kairi was flashing a peace sign on the left side, while Riku stood just barely smiling on the right. Riku actually looked a little shy in the photo. It was so cute of all three of them!

"Ah, you must be Aila!"

Aila was slightly startled as she turned to see the brunette woman from the photos rounding the corner, Kairi trailing behind her. Whoops, Kairi must have gone further into the house without Aila even noticing.

Aila hurriedly straightened her posture and laced her hands together, trying to be as polite as possible. "H-hello! Sorry, I was, um, looking at photos…"

The woman smiled, kindness radiating off of her entire being. An orange tank top complimented her tan skin, denim capris pants hugging her hips and her hair done up in a casual, messy bun. She was very pretty. "Oh, that's one of my favorites," she gushed, looking at the photo of Kairi, Sora, and Riku in their school uniforms. "Aren't they just adorable?" She held out a hand. "I'm Risa Uchida, it's so wonderful to meet you."

Aila shook her hand. "Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Uchida."

The woman laughed. "Please, no need for that, call me Risa. Now, I hope you like fish, because I have way too much of it and it's going bad tomorrow and I _really_ need everyone to eat as much as they can so I don't have to throw it all out, sound good?"

"Ummm yes?" Aila replied, a little unsure.

Risa grinned. "Great!" She turned and headed back into the room on the left. "I'll try not to poison you all!"

"She's kidding," Kairi immediately clarified. "She's a great cook."

"Ah, my daughter flatters me!" Risa called from around the corner. "Come in here and keep me company, girls! I get lonely when I cook!"

"Coming, Mom," Kairi laughed, she and Aila dutifully heading into the kitchen. It was a very cute space, with a round table big enough for five or six near a large set of windows on the left and the actual kitchen area on the right. Soft yellow cabinets lined the walls above tan countertops, very thin light blue curtains blowing gently in the breeze coming through an open window over the sink.

"Do you need any help?" Aila asked.

Risa put a finger to her chin. "Hmmm I suppose you two could chop vegetables if you're feeling particularly helpful."

"Sure thing!" Kairi agreed, heading to the sink to wash her hands. Aila stuck her gloves in her pocket and did the same.

"Now then, tell me about yourself, Aila," Risa said, placing a couple of cutting boards before the girls.

"Oh, umm… Well…" Aila floundered, not really sure what to say. She sent Kairi a panicked look. Did her parents know about other worlds? How much could she say?!

Kairi laughed. "Don't worry, you can talk freely. Mickey told my parents all about the other worlds."

Risa frowned, filleting a small fish with practiced ease. "Well, when your child goes missing and then just suddenly shows up again with her other missing friends weeks later, you do need _some_ sort of explanation… Though it would have been nice to know what was going on _before_ all that disappearing." She glanced at Aila, her smile returning. "So, I'm guessing you're not from around here, then."

"Not exactly," Aila chuckled, grabbing a carrot and a knife and beginning to chop.

"Aila was traveling with Sora," Kairi chimed in, pealing the outer layers of an onion. "That's how we met."

"Ooh, I see," Risa replied, sounding intrigued. "Fighting, what were they… those shadow things…"

"Heartless," Kairi supplied.

"Right! Ugh, that doesn't sound fun…"

"Sora turns fighting into a game, so it actually was kinda fun," Aila replied. "…Most of the time."

Risa laughed. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"I thought I heard voices!"

Aila turned to see the dusty-haired man from the photos entering the kitchen, wearing a white t-shirt and tan shorts, a pair of brown glasses resting on his face.

"Hi dad!" Kairi greeted. "This is my friend Aila, she's visiting today."

"Well well! If I knew we were having company I would have worn my fancy clothes!"

Risa scoffed. "What fancy clothes?"

The man stroked his chin. "Well I'm sure I have something… Anything that isn't shorts is fancy, right?" He grinned and winked at Kairi, who giggled. He smiled at Aila. "Nice to meet you Aila, welcome! I'm Isaac. I see my lovely wife already has you hard at work."

"Hey, she offered!" Risa defended. "Why don't _you_ come lend a hand too, hm? Or were you hoping we'd do all the hard work without you?"

Isaac pouted. "Hey, I had to shower so I didn't scare off our guest, I smelled like fish from being at the dock all morning!"

"You only just now learned we have a guest."

"Well I have a sixth sense about these things."

"But not enough of a sixth sense to put on your 'fancy clothes,' right?"

"Yes, it's a very limited sense."

Risa shook her head as Isaac sauntered over to her. He peaked over her shoulder. "So what're we having? It smells like I did before my shower."

"Fish."

"Gah! I can't escape!"

Kairi and Aila giggled.

Risa pointed her knife at him. "You'll eat as much as you can and you'll be happy about it; you're the one who brought home way too much this week!"

Isaac lifted his hands nervously. "Okay, okay! Yes ma'am!" Risa turned back to her fish and Isaac leaned toward Kairi and Aila. "Madam Mayor is very bossy, isn't she?"

"You are not a great whisperer," Risa pointed out.

Isaac grinned. "I wasn't trying to be!" He stole a kiss from his wife and then grabbed a knife to help her fillet. Aila couldn't help but smile at them. They were super cute.

She decided to fall back on her usual tactic of playing dumb about anything and everything. Even if Mickey had spilled the beans about other worlds, she was sure he wouldn't go around talking about Aila's Land of Knowledge info. "So, you're the mayor?" she asked Risa. She remembered the game implying that Kairi lived at the mayor's house, but that was actually all she knew about that.

"Indeed I am!" Risa replied proudly. "Though it's an election year again, so we'll see how long I can keep saying that."

"Oh mom, no one ever even runs against you," Kairi laughed. "The town loves you."

Risa narrowed her eyes conspiratorially. "Ah yes, I've got them all fooled into thinking I know what I'm doing."

Isaac rolled his eyes. "Don't listen to her, Aila. She's the most effective mayor this town has ever seen. She's just too modest for her own good."

Risa huffed, her cheeks turning slightly pink. "Goodness, my whole family is flattering me today…"

It didn't take long for lunch to be ready, the grilled fish and rice and boiled vegetables all smelling absolutely amazing by the time it hit the table. Risa piled Aila's plate with _way_ too much food before Aila could say anything to stop her — she was very serious about everyone eating as much as possible, apparently.

The front door opened and shut right as everyone was getting ready to eat. "Riku, is that you?" Risa called.

"Yes, hello," he called back. He appeared around the corner a few seconds later.

"Good, another mouth!" Isaac said, gesturing to the pile of fish on the table. "Help us! Risa is threatening not to let any of us leave until all this is gone!"

Riku chuckled. "I'll do my best." He pulled out the chair next to Aila and sat down. Aila smiled in greeting, and he smiled back.

"Everything go okay with your parents?" Kairi asked.

Riku nodded. "They seem okay with it. Sora's mom, too."

"Okay with…?" Risa prompted, placing a very full plate in front of Riku.

Riku glanced at Kairi. She smiled sheepishly — she hadn't told her parents that she was leaving yet. Riku sighed. "Well, it looks like Sora and I need to be away a little while longer. And, actually, Kairi's been requested as well…"

Risa stopped, a forkful of food halfway to her mouth. Isaac pointed with his fork accusingly at Kairi. "Aha! I knew there was something fishy around here… _other_ than the fish!"

Kairi put her own fork down and clasped her hands together. "Is it okay if I go? I'll be careful, I promise! And Mickey did say that we all might be needed in the future…"

Risa and Isaac shared a look. Risa sighed. "I don't like the idea of you kids in danger…"

"Sora and Riku and Aila have been helping lots of people on lots of different worlds, and I really want to do the same," Kairi insisted. "We can make a difference, like you do here, Mom. I don't want to just sit on the sidelines — if I can help people, I want to do that."

Isaac cast a sideways glance at his wife. "…She gets this from you."

Risa thought for another few moments before pointing at Riku and Aila. "You two will keep her out of any big trouble, right?"

Aila hurriedly nodded. "Uh, right!"

Riku nodded as well. "You don't have to worry, we would never let anything happen to her. And Sora won't either."

Risa nodded. "Okay, I'm going to hold you to that."

Isaac ran a hand through his hair. "That tiny king was very convincing about how important all this seemed, but… I really wish it wasn't you kids involved in it all."

"We'll all come home as soon as we can," Riku assured. "There're just a few things that need to be taken care of — some people are lost, and we need to help find them."

Aila chewed on a large bite of fish to occupy herself. Riku was being very careful about avoiding the fact that there was a _huge_ battle brewing that they were probably all going to end up fighting in. She wondered if Mickey had downplayed everything to their parents as well.

"So… I can go?" Kairi asked.

Risa sighed. "I suppose…"

Kairi looked absolutely thrilled. "Yes! I promise I'll be super careful! Like Riku said, we'll all be home really soon!"

Risa frowned, but didn't argue. Instead she looked to Aila. "What do your parents think about all this, Aila?"

Aila swallowed her large bite. "Uhh… Well, um… They don't know…"

Risa's eyes widened. "They don't?! Well where do they think you are?!"

Aila shifted uncomfortably. "Um… I dunno… I went to sleep on my world and woke up somewhere else, so, um… unless the same thing happened to them, they probably think I uh, ran away or was kidnapped or something… so…"

"Oh…" Isaac breathed. He and Risa shared a quick glance.

"How are Danny and Alex?" Kairi asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

Aila smiled weakly. "Uh, I think they're okay… I haven't seen them in a few weeks either… They went to visit Twilight Town, and I stayed to help out in Radiant Garden."

"Radiant Garden," Risa mused. She turned to her daughter. "Is that the world we think you came from…?"

Kairi nodded. "It is! Aila's been helping rebuild it."

"Really!" Isaac replied, sounding impressed. "Well now, that's very admirable, Aila. I'd love to see that place someday."

"Yeah, we can all go together!" Kairi agreed.

Aila smiled. "It's looking better every day — we've been making a lot of progress lately! I'm sure everyone would be happy to show you around sometime."

"So that's where you've been living, Aila?" Risa asked.

Aila nodded. "That's where I woke up, and Yuffie let me stay with her. She's part of the Restoration Committee. She's kinda crazy." Aila made a face before continuing. "But she's also super nice. Everyone there is. It's weird that they all just like, let me stay so fast…"

Riku quirked a brow. "How is that weird? You were lost, where else would you have gone?"

Aila shrugged. "I dunno, my brother and sister and I were all lost when we showed up on our world but nobody took us in."

"You said you were adopted though, weren't you?" Kairi asked.

Aila continued casually, "Well yeah, but not for a few years. We were bounced around a lot. People kept giving us back."

Risa looked very disturbed by that. "Giving you back? To who?"

Aila shrugged again. "Uh, the system? We usually wound up in a group home."

"How old were you?" Risa asked.

"Um… I was adopted when I was eight…"

The table lurched as Risa sprung up from her seat and practically ran around the table, pulling Aila into a very startling embrace. "What! How could anyone let such young children go without a real home?!"

Aila blinked, flustered once again. "Well, uh, there were three of us, and my little sister was sick a lot so it was expensive to take care of her, so I think it was just a hassle…" That was apparently not the thing to say, because it resulted in Risa erupting in a string of profanities as she hugged Aila even tighter.

"Risa, honey, I think she's okay now," Isaac said, his expression torn between amusement at his wife's reaction and sympathy for what had prompted it.

Risa released Aila only to take Aila's face into her hands. "Your parents are good people, right? The people who did end up adopting you?"

"Y-yes, they are," Aila replied nervously.

"Tell me about them."

Risa's stare was piercing. Aila was super thrown off by this sudden intensity! "U-um well, Mom is a nurse and Dad is a surgeon, they kinda saved my life I think once? I got really hurt and no one was around but they found me and umm yeah I dunno, then they adopted all three of us and uh they knew how to take care of Alex since they both worked in a hospital and she stopped being sick and then we all… um… were fine?" Aila's vision unfocused a little as she imagined her parents' faces smiling before her. "More than fine. They're the best."

Risa nodded seriously before pulling Aila into her chest once again. "That's good. You deserve that."

Aila almost pointed out that Risa really didn't know Aila at all, but instead shut her eyes and allowed herself to lean into to woman just a little bit, imagining her own mother's arms wrapped around her. She caught herself after a few seconds and hurriedly pulled away, keeping her gaze low as she tried to keep the plethora of emotions brimming in her heart contained to a dull buzz.

"Now, this Yuffie sounds like a good person too, but know that you are always welcome here as well!" Risa insisted, shoveling even more fish onto Aila's plate. Aila opened her mouth to protest (she could _never_ eat all of that) but Risa didn't give her a moment to. "Honestly, what kind of world would abandon a child like that?! You come stay here any time, you got that?! And your brother and sister too, you tell them to come by as well! I won't take no for an answer! Until you find your way back to your parents, you'll always have a place to go!"

Aila glanced at Kairi, who mouthed "Sorry" while trying, and failing, to suppress a smile.

Isaac sighed and shook his head. "Ri, you're gonna scare her off. And I'm pretty sure that's more fish than any human could possibly eat."

"I'm trying to make sure she gets enough!"

"Enough for a year? Well you're doing a very good job, dear."

Aila breathed out a laugh and looked up at Risa. "Thank you. Um, yeah though, I really can't eat that much…"

Risa smirked and wagged a finger at her. "Not with that attitude you can't!"

KHKHKHKH

It was a bit later when the three teens found themselves back on the play island, Aila _insisting_ that they wait at least a little bit longer before using the Star Shard again — she was WAY too full to be risking any motion sickness. She'd forced her way through a good dent of what Risa had put on her plate before admitting defeat, and even just rowing back across the ocean in Sora's little boat had felt at bit dangerous.

So, in the meantime, she was lying face up in the sand, watching a few wisps of clouds inch their way across the bright blue sky and really fighting the pull of sleep. Okay, she totally got how Sora could fall asleep on this beach all the time — it was so comfortable and relaxing. Kairi and Riku were wandering around near the edge of the water, taking the place in one more time before they had to leave. None of them really knew how long they were gonna be gone, especially since Yen Sid had been so vague about why he'd wanted to see Kairi.

Kairi's parents had spent at least ten minutes wishing them all goodbye, showering their daughter with kisses and making her promise over and over again to be safe. Aila really liked Kairi's parents, but having lunch with them and seeing them fuss over Kairi so much had twisted a knife always resting at the edge of her heart a little — it had been around half a year since Aila, Danny, and Alex had left their world. What were their own parents thinking right now…? They must have been sick with worry… or had it been too long now, and they'd returned to what their lives had been like before taking the three of them in? Aila sighed heavily. It was better to just not think about it. But she missed them. A lot.

She sat up, shaking sand from her hair. Lying alone with her thoughts was starting to get to her — she needed some music or conversation or something. This peaceful beach was suddenly _too_ quiet for her liking. "Hey, I guess we should probably go soon, right guys?" she called, tightening her ponytail a little. When there was no response, she glanced down the beach. "Guys?"

Riku and Kairi were nowhere to be seen. Hm. They must have headed to the other side of the island. Aila stood, the silence starting to really get to her now. Actually, even the sand beneath her seemed to have lost its crunch, her shoes sinking soundlessly into the grains as she took a step forward. She frowned down at the ground, taking another tentative, silent step. What the…? She looked out at the ocean, struck by the lack of any wave sounds as well — the ocean had been calm all day, but now… Now it was completely still. Was that even possible…?

"Hey, Riku? Kairi?" Aila called again, hoping that they were maybe just around the corner. Her words sounded strange, like the sound wouldn't carry farther than directly in front of her. A sense of foreboding was beginning to tug at her insides. There was no more breeze on her face, no more warmth on her skin despite the sun still shining down.

Something was wrong.

She wanted to run to the other side of the island — that must have been where her friends were, right? But as her gaze fell onto the water once again, something within her urged her forward instead. The sand refused to hold the shape of her silent footsteps, and as Aila approached the edge of the deathly still sea, the only sounds she could hear were that of her own shaky breathing and heartbeat. She hesitated at the edge before, very tentatively, leaning out over the water and gazing down at her own reflection. Only… something wasn't right here, either. There were no ripples of any kind in the water, yet somehow her reflection was jumbled and flickering, like someone kept throwing pebbles onto the image to prevent the water holding it.

Maybe she just wasn't able to see herself clearly on the water's edge for some reason…? Without really thinking about it, Aila took a step onto the mirror-like water, her shoe creating the smallest ripples on its surface. She took a few more steps, vaguely expecting her shoes to sink beneath the surface, but somehow the water held her up. She looked down at the water once again, hoping to see her reflection a bit better now. She recognized her own bright blue eyes staring back at her now, but still, every other feature seemed… wrong. Her brain couldn't quite wrap itself around what it was seeing — it was like everything other than her eyes kept flickering to something new. It was almost like, somehow, she was looking into a thousand different faces all at once, and her mind just wasn't capable of comprehending any of them. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head before trying to look again. This time, finally, she saw herself — or, no… wait. She looked closer. Black hair, blue eyes, pale skin — but it wasn't her own.

"Celina…?" she breathed, watching the reflection mouth the exact same name. Her breathing hitched and, very slowly, she reached down toward the water, crouching until her fingers were just above the water's surface, the reflection mirroring her every move. She hesitated again, suddenly afraid, though she had no idea why. The silence became absolute, even her own breathing and heartbeat seeming to stop for a few moments.

Complete…

Unbroken…

Silence…

…

The hand of the reflection beneath her suddenly shot out of the water and locked around her wrist, pulling her sharply down toward the water. Aila felt herself gasp just before she was pulled beneath the surface, twisting and fighting against the hand locked on her wrist as the water enveloped her completely. She could no longer see the hand holding her, though she could still feel it pulling her down, threatening to drag her deep into the ocean's depths. In a panic she managed to twist her body toward the surface again, her eyes widening as she realized that someone knew was on the other side, gazing down at her. Aila's struggles were causing the water to ripple, making it hard to see this new person clearly. She could just make out the shape of a woman with sandy, shoulder length hair, familiar bright blue eyes watching Aila struggle without any sense of urgency at all. Aila called out to the woman, bubbles catching her words and carrying them away. She reached desperately toward the woman with her free hand. _"Please, help me…!"_

In the next second Aila was shooting into a sitting position on the beach, oxygen flooding into her lungs with a desperate gasp. She blinked hurriedly, disoriented by the change in location. The surf crashed lazily before her in a lazy rhythm, the water scraping back and forth over the soft white sand. Gulls screamed overhead, the gentle afternoon breeze cooling the sweat on her brow. What…?

A laugh caught her ear and she glanced down the beach to see Kairi holding a rather large shell up to Riku's ear, the older boy shaking his head in bemusement. Aila sucked in a few more desperate breaths, trying to get her frantic heart to slow. Had… had she been dreaming? It had felt so real… And yet, already, the details of what she'd just seen were slipping from her memory. She looked down at her hand and rubbed her wrist nervously, the vague feeling of fingers locked around her skin still lingering… whose had they been, again…?

Crunching sand alerted Aila to Kairi's approach, the girl grinning ear to ear as she knelt at Aila's side. "Aila, look what I found!" She held up the large shell, the sun reflecting off of its beautiful white surface. "It's big enough to hear the ocean! Usually there are only smaller ones around here." She put the shell up to Aila's ear, a sound like distant waves echoing from within its perfect, smooth confines.

"You don't need a shell to hear the ocean when it's right here," Riku chuckled, approaching as well.

Kairi rolled her eyes. "It's still cool though! Right, Aila?"

The sound from within the shell mixed with the sound of actual waves in her other ear gave Aila the sudden sensation of being entirely engulfed by water, which in turn elicited a spike of panic from her. She jerked her head away from the shell, catching herself with one hand in the warm sand.

Kairi immediately pulled the shell away, her face filled with concern. "Whoa, are you okay?"

Aila shook her head once, trying to clear it. Her panic was gone just as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving only confusion and slight embarrassment in its wake. "Uh, yeah, um… sorry, I don't know why that freaked me out…"

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Kairi apologized sincerely. "I guess I was a little too excited…"

"No, no," Aila insisted, waving her hands in front of herself. "I'm sorry, that was a weird reaction! I uh, think maybe I fell asleep…? And now I'm confused." She chuckled sheepishly.

Kairi's expression softened. "Oh! Heh, that happens to Sora a lot. Did you have any nice dreams?"

Aila's gaze drifted out toward the water. "…I can't remember… I think I had a dream, but I'm not sure it was very nice…"

Riku extended a hand. "You probably ate too much. Sleeping too soon after a big meal gives people nightmares, supposedly."

Aila accepted his hand and quirked a brow as he pulled her to her feet. "Really? Huh. That's good to know. No more huge dinners right before bedtime."

Riku smirked. "Well, it's the middle of the afternoon, so if you'd _actually_ waited until bedtime you would have been okay."

Aila puffed her cheeked out and turned away, crossing her arms in a huff. "Hey, the last time I was asleep I had to fight a bunch of monsters the whole time, so I'm a little tired!"

Kairi stood and cocked her head. "You fought monsters while sleeping?"

Aila nodded. "Yeah, Riku and Sora did too!" She eyed Riku suspiciously. "So why aren't you tired, huh?"

Riku chuckled. "I mean, I could rest, but we're kind of supposed to be in the middle of something."

"Tch, overachiever," Aila muttered. She shot Kairi a knowing glance. "I bet Sora's napping right now, at least."

Kairi giggled. "I wouldn't be surprised if he was!"

Riku fished the Star Shard out of his pocket. "Okay, are we all ready to head back now?"

Aila groaned. "Fiiiiine. But I'm swearing off that stupid rock after this! Gummi ships or bust!"

Kairi eyed the stone in Riku's hand a little warily. "Is it that bad…?"

"Aila's being a little dramatic," Riku assured, though after a pause he added, "…but it's not great."

Kairi sighed and glanced at the shell in her hand. "Do you think I can bring this…? Since we don't know how long we'll be away, it might be nice to hear the ocean…"

Aila grinned. "That's a great idea! I'm sure Yen Sid won't care."

Riku nodded in agreement. "Just hold on tight to it, okay?"

Kairi beamed back and nodded as well. "Right!"

Riku held out the Star Shard and prompted both girls to put a hand on it. They all focused on the magical item, Riku and Aila thinking as hard as they could about Yen Sid's tower and willing the Shard to take them there. And then they were being sucked into the blue magic again, a distinctive yelp escaping Kairi as the three of them were pulled violently away from the beach. Aila shut her eyes tight, trying to focus on breathing and trusting the magic to get her where she needed to go. It didn't take long before they were all three unceremoniously dumped onto a patch of soft green grass, Aila not even trying to fight gravity as she rolled onto her back. Stars twinkled above her, her vision spinning a bit less than it had on her previous trips with the Star Shard. She must have been acclimating to the magic… not that she wanted to have the chance to acclimate any more.

She glanced over to Kairi, who was faring a bit worse. She'd managed to hold onto her seashell — in fact, she was clutching it to her chest like a lifeline, her body curled in around it on the floor, her eyes shut tight.

Aila forced herself into a sitting position and inched over to the redhead. "Hey, you okay?"

Kairi opened one eye and glanced up at Aila, a bit of sweat on her brow. "That… was not great." Her voice was a little strained.

Riku was suddenly there as well, his hand falling on Kairi's shoulder. "Yeah, maybe Aila wasn't being _that_ dramatic…"

"I think Riku was just trying not to freak you out," Aila whispered loudly to Kairi. "Also known as, he's a liar and I'm an honest…er."

That got a small chuckle out of Kairi, who, after a few more deep breaths, finally seemed able to sit up.

"Ahyuck! Riku, Aila, welcome back!"

Aila glanced around Kairi to see Donald and Goofy heading toward them, apparently having spotted their landing.

Aila grinned. "Heya!"

Goofy and Donald seemed to notice a third person there at the same time, both of them looking momentarily confused before realizing who Riku and Aila had brought with them. They gasped. "Kairi?!" Donald asked, cocking his head.

Kairi turned to them, still seeming a little woozy as she sat on the floor. "Hi Donald, hi Goofy…"

Goofy immediately knelt down in order to help her up. "Well gwarsh, we didn't expect ta see you, but it sure is nice to!"

"This was the errand Master Yen Sid sent me on," Riku explained, standing while Goofy helped Kairi to her feet. Aila followed suit, shaking a few lingering stars from her eyes.

"To get Kairi?" Donald asked. "How come?"

Riku shrugged. "Guess we're about to find out."

Goofy nodded. "Oh, uh, right, he said to send you and your 'guest' up to his office when you got back — guess that'd be you, Kairi."

Kairi smiled. "Guess so."

"What're we waiting for, then?" Aila asked, eager for answers. "Let's head up!"

Donald waved a hand dismissively at her. "He didn't mention you, so you stay down here with us!"

"What?! I used that stupid Star Shard TWICE and you're not gonna let me find out why?!"

"You'll find out," Donald scoffed. "We all will. Just be patient."

Aila huffed. "Tch, yeah, like _you_ should be lecturing anyone on patience."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Um, actually…" Kairi said, getting everyone's attention. "If it's not any trouble… could Aila maybe come?" She met Aila's gaze and rubbed her wrist, seeming a bit sheepish. "I don't know why, but… I feel… weirdly calm when you're around, Aila, and I have to admit being here is making me a little nervous… so…"

Donald raised a brow. " _Aila_ makes you feel calm…? Did you hit your head on that landing?"

Aila didn't really get it either, but she wasn't about to let this opportunity to have her way pass her by, so she puffed out her chest proudly. "Of course I do! I am the master of being calm and collected! Riku's a master of Keyblades, and I'm a master of chill…ness."

Kairi giggled, while Donald just shook his head. "Oh brother…"

Goofy cocked his head. "Master of chilliness? Like cold things…? Oh! You do like ice cream! Gwarsh, that does sound good right now…"

Aila deflated. "No, not… not _chilliness_ , chill-ness."

"…So you don't want ice cream?"

"Well I mean if you had some ice cream I wouldn't say no to it."

"Okay, okay," Riku breathed, seeming part amused and part baffled by this conversation. He started making his way toward the door of the tower. "Whoever's coming up, let's not keep Master Yen Sid waiting any longer."

"Kay," Kairi agreed breathlessly. She shot Aila a nervous look. "So are you coming, then?"

"Duh," Aila replied, skipping after Riku. "Secret meetings are totally where I want to be. I don't know anything anymore and it's weird, I need to learn some new stuff!"

Kairi smiled and hurried to follow, Aila turning around to quickly stick her tongue out at Donald in triumph. She sobered after a second. "You guys could probably come too, we're all on the same team."

"Aw, that's okay, we'll wait out here for Sora. Like Donald said, we'll find everythin' out eventually," Goofy replied.

"How can you stand waiting?" Aila muttered, looking at her friends like they'd grown two heads each. She _hated_ knowing that there was something cool happening but not knowing the details of it. Obviously she was gonna get the answers as soon as possible! She blinked. "Wait, Sora isn't back yet?! What the heck?!"

"Yeah, he's really taking his time," Donald grumbled.

"Aila!" Kairi called, and Aila realized that she and Riku were already entering the tower.

"Ah! Coming!" Aila replied, rushing to join them. Surely Sora wouldn't have gotten himself in any _more_ trouble today, right? Yeah, he was fine. She could focus on this. The tower door shut behind them, and the three teens began their ascent.

Aila glanced at Kairi as they made their way up the stairs. "Hey… do I really make you feel calm?"

Kairi glanced at her, her nervous expression relaxing into a smile. "Yeah. This will probably sound weird, because I know we haven't even really known each other for very long, but something about you is… familiar. And it's comforting. It almost feels like I've known you forever." She held up her hands and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry if that's super strange to say…!"

"It seems like both of you lived in Radiant Garden when you were little," Riku said, glancing over his shoulder at the girls. "Maybe you were friends."

Aila and Kairi shared a glance. "Huh," Aila mused. There was no way. How crazy would that have been? Though she supposed, the timelines… did maybe line up… "I don't remember anything from living on Radiant Garden before…"

"Yeah, me neither," Kairi replied. There was a pause and then she smiled. "Well, at least neither of us has to feel bad since we _both_ forgot."

A grin blossomed on Aila's face. "Okay, well, how about… Let's pretend we _were_ friends back then, even if we weren't. Because, um, that would have been nice… O-or uh, is _that_ super strange to say…?"

Kairi shook her head. "I don't think it's strange at all, I think it's a great idea." She took Aila's hand in her own. "Hi, old friend."

Aila blinked before smiling and letting her fingers tighten a little around Kairi's hand. "Hi! It's been too long, let's not forget to write next time!" They both laughed. Aila's heart swelled. Was it really possible that they had been friends before…? Back home it had taken her years and years to make even a single friend outside of her own family, and even then she'd never fully felt like she could be herself. Could there be a chance that she'd had a friend all along, they were just stranded worlds apart? That thought put a sour taste in her mouth. Back home, other than her parents, who were maybe moving on anyway… Was anyone _really_ missing her?

Or were the people who would miss her all right here…?

They reached the top of the stairs shortly after that, Kairi's grip on Aila's hand tightening bit by bit as they neared the door. She really was nervous. "Don't worry, I'm sure he wanted to see you for good reasons," Aila assured quietly. She was only partially telling the truth — there was a good chance that this meeting was because Kairi, one of the Princesses of Heart, was in danger again…

But Kairi seemed comforted by her partial lie. "Yeah." Her expression shifted into something more confident. "I'm here to help, so that's what I'll say I want to do." She clutched the shell to her stomach with her other arm, almost like a child might hold a stuffed animal. That seemed to give her a little more confidence as well.

Riku put a hand on the door and glanced back at her. "Ready?" Kairi nodded, and so he opened the door and entered the room.

Aila made to follow, but Kairi didn't move just yet, her grip on Aila's hand halting the younger girl. Aila squeezed her hand. "It's okay, you've got this!" She could hear Mickey welcoming Riku back from within the study.

Kairi took a deep breath and then exhaled with a nod, finally stepping over the threshold.

"I brought you the 'guest' you asked for, but…" Riku was saying to Master Yen Sid. He glanced back at the girls as they entered and stepped aside, out of their way. "…You never said why."

Mickey gasped when he caught sight of Kairi. Seemed he hadn't been told who Riku was going to get either. Aila wasn't sure what all the secrecy was about — Yen Sid really liked being mysterious, didn't he?

"Kairi, welcome," Master Yen Sid said, smiling kindly. "Thank you for joining us."

"Um, of course, sir," Kairi replied, doing a very impressive job of keeping her nerves mostly out of her voice. Aila released her hand and smiled encouragingly, Kairi smiling a little back before stepping forward to more directly be addressed by Yen Sid.

"I have come to learn that you, too, can wield a Keyblade," Master Yen Sid began.

Aila's jaw went a little slack. "Uh, wait, what."

"It's true," Riku said. "She used one while we were fighting the Organization, remember?"

Kairi frowned lightly, turning to Riku. "I thought I was only borrowing that from you…"

Riku shrugged. "That was the plan, but the Keyblade that formed for you was unique. It wasn't just another version of my own."

"Keybladers have the ability to pass on the power to wield to those they deem worthy," Yen Sid said. "I would suspect that Kairi, who was willing to fight in a time of crisis, was able to immediately accept that power from you and call her own Keyblade forth."

"I… called it on my own?" Kairi breathed, looking down at her hand with a mixture of awe and confusion.

"Have you tried calling it since then?" Yen Sid asked.

Kairi looked up and shook her head. "Well, no…"

Yen Sid gestured with one hand toward her. "Why don't you try now."

Kairi hesitated, but then held out her right hand and shut her eyes. Everyone was silent for a few moments, and then…

 _Shing_! Her colorful Keyblade appeared in a flash of bright light, her fingers wrapping easily around the sand and ocean-esque metal of its handle, its paopu fruit Keychain swinging delicately from side to side.

"Literally everyone has a Keyblade but me," Aila muttered under her breath. She heard Mickey breathe out a chuckle. Argh, his big ears heard everything.

"You see," Yen Sid said, looking pleased. "You have the power to wield."

Kairi seemed to consider that for a moment, looking her Keyblade over. "…You're sure I'm not just borrowing it, right, sir?"

"Do you know it's name?" Riku asked. When Kairi looked confused, he elaborated. "If its really your own personal Keyblade, you'll be able to hear its name in your heart."

Kairi looked down at her Keyblade again, studying it. There were a few moments of silence, and then… "…Destiny's Embrace."

Mickey smiled. "Welp, sounds like its yours to me!"

"Indeed, it is," Yen Sid agreed. "Kairi. I am glad you are here. Now, to discuss our next steps."

Kairi dismissed her Keyblade and nodded, everyone else stepping forward a bit to pay attention to what Yen Sid had to say next.

He first remained focused on Kairi, beginning by filling her in. "Our threat right now is Master Xehanort, the being who eventually became both the impostor Ansem that plagued you and your friends nearly two years ago, and Xemnas, who led Organization XIII. Sora, and Riku, were able to defeat them both. But, because of their demise, he was able to resurrect in his true, completed form." Kairi's eyes widened, but she stayed silent, paying rapt attention as Yen Sid continued, "His goal is to gather thirteen vessels of darkness, that will clash against seven warriors of light on our side. This clash will create the ultimate weapon - the Key-blade."

"Spelled with an old 'X' letter thingy," Aila whispered to Kairi. "The letter sounds like 'key.'" Kairi nodded slowly, brow furrowed. She held the shell to her stomach a little tighter.

"What happens if we refuse to fight?" Riku asked. "If this clash is what he needs, couldn't we refuse to give it to him?"

Yen Sid shook his head. "As I was saying to Mickey just before you came in, should we refuse to fight, Master Xehanort would find another way. The seven Princesses of Heart could be used for this purpose, and so they would be put in grave danger." Kairi's fists clenched a little. No doubt she didn't like the idea of herself or the other Princesses being used for something like that again.

"Got it," Riku sighed.

Aila raised her hand. "What if we attacked his side before they had all their people? We've taken out some of the same Nobodies before, so we could probably do it again? Or does that count toward the clash…?"

"That would be ideal," Yen Sid replied. "But, as you saw, things are not the same as they were last time. Master Xehanort has transferred a piece of himself into each of his followers, making them all even more powerful than the last time you faced them. In addition, even if we were able to locate the members on their own, I am doubtful that they would give any of us the chance to fight them, and would likely flee if they believed they were in danger of losing." Yen Sid drummed his fingers lightly on the wooden surface of his desk. "I take it, from your question, that you wish to fight alongside us, Aila?"

"Of course," Aila replied immediately. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Hmm…" Everyone turned to Mickey, whose brow was furrowed in thought. "Master Xehanort said that you couldn't be counted as one of the seven lights, because Spirits were meant to be neutral."

"So?" Aila scoffed. "Maybe he only said that because he didn't want us to have enough people before he did. Besides, I was thinking about it earlier — Celina never said that Spirits were _neutral._ She said that they were supposed to keep balance. So, wouldn't Xehanort getting an ultimate weapon to maybe wipe out a bunch of worlds be like, the opposite of that? So stopping him is my job, right?"

Yen Sid's lips twitched into what might have almost been a smile before returning to neutral. "I suppose I can follow your logic. Even so, without a Keyblade, I am not sure you would be considered an _official_ addition to the seven lights."

"Well if you'd all just _let me_ get one," Aila grumbled.

"Still," Yen Sid continued, looking once again maybe the tiniest bit amused, "that does not mean your help would not be invaluable." Aila relaxed and smiled a little at that. She really didn't care about the title, she just wanted to help. So that was fine.

"Master Xehanort said something else worrying as well, though," Mickey said. "He implied that he might be able to use Spirits to bypass the clash, and create the Key-blade with their help." He frowned, concerned, looking directly at Aila. "What if you fighting with him directly triggers that?"

Riku shook his head. "No, it can't be that easy. Otherwise he would have just attacked Aila head on earlier today, especially after his other plan failed."

"He seems like a big liar to me," Aila huffed, crossing her arms. "I don't believe anything he says."

"Wait, you all saw him _today_?" Kairi asked.

Riku hesitated, but then nodded. "Yeah. He… tried to make Sora one of his vessels."

" _What_?!"

"It's okay, he failed!" Aila said quickly. "And then he vanished."

"Wait, so Sora isn't here right now because…?" Kairi asked, concern shining in her eyes.

"Unrelated," Riku assured her. "He's fine now, I promise."

Kairi didn't seem completely mollified, but apparently trusted Riku enough to take his word for it. She nodded, her expression clouded by all of this new information.

"Now then," Yen Sid said, pulling everyone's attention back to himself. "The great battle with Xehanort is almost upon us. As such, we must take action to keep the seven pure lights safe, and thus we must hasten to assemble the seven guardians of light. It is time to return to our world the three Keyblade wielders we lost over a decade ago. Ventus, Terra, and Aqua must be saved from their sad end, for they have more to achieve."

Yen Sid lifted his gaze to somewhere above the heads of the room's other occupants, as if seeing something far away. "Following their first battle with Xehanort, Ventus's heart refused to awaken, and so Aqua found a safe location to conceal him. But when she set off in search of her other missing friend Terra, she fell to a place from which there is no return without outside help."

Yen Sid looked to Mickey, who nodded and turned to the rest of the group. "I saw her," he said. "In the Realm of Darkness. It had taken a lot of effort, but I'd finally found a way in. I was looking for a Keyblade of Darkness, to close the door to Kingdom Hearts that Xehanort's Heartless was opening up." Aila's eyes widened — so this happened during Kingdom Hearts one, then? Mickey continued. "Once there, I felt a warm and familiar light, and it led me to Aqua. She had fallen into the Realm while searching for Terra, sacrificing herself to try and give him a chance… but we never found him, so I'm not sure if it was any help in the end. She and I started searching for a way out together, and in the process were able to find the Keyblade we needed to close the door." Mickey looked at Riku. "That's when we saw you."

A surprised breath escaped Riku. "Me?"

Mickey nodded. "Xehanort's Heartless, the fake Ansem, had opened the door to Kingdom Hearts, and you were running to close it. We were behind you, and we started to follow. But the Heartless were intent on stopping you. They began to swarm, and Aqua tried to fight them off, to keep them from reaching you. Before I could stop 'em, they carried her away, through a door I couldn't follow her through. But because of her actions, you were able to reach the door, and together with Sora, we were able to close it." He looked away, his expression pained. "I thought… I heard her voice in the distance…"

Aila let out a soft breath as Mickey trailed off, the implications of what might have happened to Aqua sinking in. That was almost two years ago… Had she been fighting those same Heartless off ever since…?

"She sacrificed herself to save me…?" Riku asked quietly. He turned to Mickey, looking more than a little frustrated by this news. "Why did you keep it from me for so long?!"

"I had to respect her choice."

"What about us?" Riku replied. "You could have given _us_ a choice. We could have gone and helped her!" Aila pulled back a little, never having seen Riku speak to Mickey with anything but respect until now. He must have been really upset at the idea that he was kinda the reason Aqua was still lost, years later. Not that Aila blamed him — she would have been devastated to learn something like that.

Mickey looked at the floor, his expression pained. "I know…"

"Do not be rash, Riku," Yen Sid interjected calmly. "As Mickey told you clearly in his story, reaching the Realm of Darkness the first time was not a simple task. The Corridors of Darkness that you have used for travel in the past are only on the edge of that Realm, and going any further from within them is nearly impossible. True doorways to the Realm are few and far between, and take quite a bit of effort to locate. And even if we had found a way back in, regrettably none of us possessed the necessary means to get Aqua back out safely. So I forbade Mickey from telling you, let alone going after her."

"Why keep it secret?" Riku asked, stepping forward. His words were still sharper than normal.

"That much is obvious," Yen Sid replied, meeting Riku's harsh gaze with a level stare. "If not you, then certainly Sora would have staged a reckless attempt at rescue." Riku opened his mouth to protest, but snapped it shut again. Yen Sid was right — if they had known someone was in trouble, they would have tried anything to save her. And it sounded like that probably wouldn't have ended well for anyone.

"But, now we can help Aqua," Mickey said, stepping forward and turning to Riku again with confidence. "You and I — we're gonna go find her!"

Riku blinked, and then a relieved smile spread on his face. "Yeah! Count me in!"

Mickey nodded, smiling as well. "Yep!"

"Who's this new Riku and where's the old one?" Kairi asked, a smile in her voice.

Riku turned to her, raising a brow. "New me?"

"Yeah," Kairi replied. She giggled. "You're more like Sora."

Aila smirked. "You're right, he did sound like Sora just then."

"Should I be flattered…?" Riku asked with a slight chuckle. Kairi and Aila shared a glance before giggling a little again. Riku sighed. "I try too hard to be the role model. It's more fun to just… listen to my heart." He looked at them again. "Which is… Sora-esque."

"Well, we still like you," Kairi teased. Aila couldn't help the smile that remained on her face. It was good for Riku to act a little more carefree — she actually thought that being more open suited him really well. When he smiled, it was like… some light within him started shining, one that maybe hadn't had a lot of use in a long time. It radiated from him in a way that really did feel similar to Sora, but was also very distinctly… Riku. Riku caught her eye and she quickly looked away, realizing she'd kind of been staring like a weirdo. Man, someday she wouldn't be such an awkward weirdo when he was around, right? Maybe?

Kairi turned to Yen Sid and stepped forward again. "Master, I came here because I wanted to help somehow. What can I do?"

Yen Sid nodded. "I have entrusted the wizard Merlin to oversee the training for our new Keyblade wielders, yourself and Lea."

Kairi cocked her head. "Lea?"

"He means Axel," Mickey supplied.

"What?!" Kairi gasped, taking a startled step away from Mickey. Aila immediately sweatdropped. Oh, right. Axel had kidnapped Kairi. Um… and now they were supposed to work together…?

"Uh, he's a regular person now," Mickey insisted quickly. "He even saved Sora for us. You can trust him!"

Kairi seemed unconvinced, and so Aila stepped in.

"Axel was his Nobody self, so he had lost his heart, right? So he kinda forgot about stuff like empathy and like… that you shouldn't kidnap innocent people and stuff for a while there. But now he's back to his full self, with a real heart and everything! So um… he's good now." Aila held up a finger. "He actually even saved us when he was still a Nobody, too! He sacrificed himself so Sora, Donald, Goofy and I could find our way to you. So even before he got his heart back, he uh… wasn't _all_ bad? I think?"

Riku nodded. "He's on our side. I trust him. He won't hurt you, Kairi."

Kairi glanced back and forth between them for a few moments, seemingly trying to process this. "Well… if you guys trust him then… I can too… I think." She looked out the moon shaped window, at the plethora of stars. "I guess everyone deserves a second chance." Still, she looked a little unsure. She steeled her gaze and nodded once, determination seeming to fill her. "Yeah."

"C'mon, Riku. It's time for us to go," Mickey said, starting for the door. "First, we gotta find an entrance to the Realm of Darkness."

"Mickey," Yen Sid called, halting the King in his tracks. "Take these along with you." He waved a hand and in a puff of smoke and sparkles, two suitcases appeared on his desk. "The three good fairies asked that you be presented with them." Riku and Mickey stepped forward, each taking one as Yen Sid continued, "They are new vestments which will shield both of you from the darkness." Aila blinked. New clothes?

Riku and Mickey bowed deeply. "Thank you, Master."

They turned to each other, Riku smiling confidently as Mickey said, "Okay, let's go!"

"Your ship will be waiting outside," Yen Sid said.

Aila's interest was immediately piqued. "You guys have a Gummi ship too?"

"Apparently," Riku replied with a shrug and a smirk.

"It'll be much easier with a ship," Mickey said. "We might need to go to worlds we've never been to before, and we need to stick together, so using just our Keyblades or the Star Shard might not work as well as a good old fashioned ship."

"Oof, no more Star Shard, dodged a bullet there," Aila whispered to Riku. Riku breathed out a laugh.

"Kairi, if you would come with me," Yen Sid said, standing from his desk and walking toward the room connected to his study. "I will get you to Merlin."

"O-oh, okay," Kairi said, looking a little flustered at the notion that she was being sent away from everyone so suddenly.

Aila flashed her a double thumbs up. "Don't worry, you got this!"

"Train hard!" Mickey said with a smile.

Riku nodded, smiling softly. "We'll check in on you soon. Good luck."

Kairi straightened up, seeming bolstered by their encouragement. She clutched the shell against her body with both hands. "Okay. I'll see you all soon!" With light steps she hurried after Yen Sid, who turned back to Aila before leading the redhead through the door.

"Aila, wait for Sora — once he has returned, the four of you come see me at once."

Aila nodded and bowed lightly. "Yes, sir." She turned and headed for the exit with Riku and Mickey, muttering under her breath, "Hopefully Sora doesn't take five thousand years…" Riku and Mickey both chuckled.

Donald and Goofy were waiting on the outdoor stairs at the tower's base, both of them standing when Aila, Riku, and Mickey opened the door and stepped into the outside air.

"So?" Donald asked expectantly.

"Riku and I are going to try and find Aqua, so we're gonna search for a way into the Realm of Darkness," Mickey said, filling his friends in. "You two wait here with Aila for Sora, okay? Sounds like Yen Sid is gonna have something else for you all to do as soon as Sora gets back."

"You got it!" Goofy said, saluting his King. He relaxed a little. "Be careful, you two."

Mickey smiled. "Don't worry Goofy, we will be."

A light shone along the edge of the floating island Yen Sid's tower rested on before fading to reveal a new Gummi ship, this one looking a little more round and sleek than the one Aila and the boys usually used.

"Ooh!" Aila gushed, leaping down the last of the stairs eagerly. She turned to Mickey and Riku. "Can I look inside before you guys leave, please please please?!"

Mickey laughed. "Okay, but be quick."

"Yay!" Aila cheered, bolting for the new ship. It seemed like a newer model, kind of similar to one that Cid had allowed her to help work on a few weeks ago. The outer gummies were dark red and grey, their shiny surfaces glinting in the starlight like a brand new car. It took Aila a few moments to locate the door, which gave way with a satisfying hiss once activated and pulled up to create a sizable opening. Hurrying inside, Aila was met with a much larger control room than she was used to, complete with a few rows of high backed, dark grey swivel chairs and a grey, curved couch attached to the back wall. Interesting… She rushed through the door at the back of the control room and was met with a very tiny hallway, with only three doors — one led to a small kitchen, another to a small bathroom, and a third to a single bedroom with two sets of bunk beds. Mickey and Riku were gonna have to share, it looked like. Hm.

She hurried back to the control room and stopped sharply in front of the control board, her eyes drinking in the display. When she'd been traveling with the boys last time, she'd really only understood the wiring and shield work of their ship. But Cid had been teaching her a lot, and now she knew what every button and lever was for — it was immediately clear from this set up that this ship was meant for speed, and it seemed like it had a good amount of weaponry as well. Maybe that was why there was less living space — if this ship was designed more for fast travel, there wouldn't be as much of a need for long term living, since presumably anyone on board could stay on whatever world they were headed to.

"Well?" Mickey asked, and Aila turned to see both him and Riku entering the ship. "Does it seem up to par?"

Aila grinned. "It's so different from ours!" She brushed a hand over some of the buttons, her eyes twinkling excitedly. "I'd have to actually start it up to know for sure, but I bet you guys could go like, twice as fast as us. When was this built? What are the shield specs? I didn't see any visible weapons on the outside but its clearly set up for battle, so they must be hidden to decrease resistance while traveling so fast, right? And then they come out when you activate them? That's so cool."

Mickey chuckled, placing his briefcase in one of the empty chairs. "Chip and Dale told me you had an eye for Gummi ships."

Aila turned to him excitedly. "They did?" When she and her siblings had been staying at Disney Castle, Aila had often spent time in the Gummi Bay. She wasn't licensed, so she wasn't actually allowed to touch any of the ships, but she'd really enjoyed watching Chip and Dale and their whole crew work on the ships stored in the Bay. She just really liked all the different designs, and couldn't help thinking up a few of her own. Cid seemed to like some of her ideas, so they'd been working to implement a few into the ships back on Radiant Garden. Something about designing ships just clicked with her; it was like a complicated puzzle. She really enjoyed it.

Mickey smiled. "I'd be happy to let you take a closer look at this one when we have a little more time, if you want."

Aila nodded enthusiastically. "I'd love that!" She rubbed her arm sheepishly. "Um, but yeah, I guess I should let you guys go. Sorry!"

"Don't apologize," Mickey replied. "It's nice that you're so enthusiastic! Do you think you might wanna be a Gummi engineer someday?"

"Yeah, maybe!" Aila replied immediately. She realized after she'd said it, though, that it was a silly thing to say — after all, once she got back to her own world, there would be no such thing as Gummi ships anymore. How could she be an engineer of something that didn't exist…? Her smile fell and she looked away. "Or um, I don't know… maybe not…" Mickey seemed a little confused by her backtracking, but Aila didn't give him a chance to ask about it. She hurried past Riku to the door and waved at them both. "Be safe, okay? And make sure we see you both again real soon!"

Riku frowned a little, also seeming confused by her behavior, but then nodded and allowed a smile to grace his features once again. "Yeah, same to you. We'll see you soon."

Aila scurried off the ship and let the door hiss shut behind her, not letting herself look back. She felt kinda stupid. Her interest in Gummi ships wasn't sustainable — she should be focusing on other things, like Danny and Alex, things she'd still have once she got home. She should check in on them soon, she hadn't seen her siblings in weeks… She looked up at Yen Sid's tower, realizing that she still had yet to ask about an update on him finding a way back to her own world. But… if he had any updates, he would have told her, right? So maybe there was no point in asking. It would happen when it happened. Maybe any day now. She rubbed her chest as her heart gave a rather heavy thud.

She rejoined Donald and Goofy and the three of them watched Mickey and Riku's ship fly away, Aila still staring at the sky long after it had disappeared. Her home was somewhere out there, represented by one of the farthest stars in the galaxy. Her heart ached when she thought of what she'd left behind.

Or was it possible that it was actually aching for everything she had yet to lose?

KHKHKHKHKH

There you go! I was actually going to end this chapter after Sora came back and they were on their way to their first mission, buuuuut it was taking way too long and I needed to let you guys know I was alive lol. I hope this is enough to tide you all over for a couple of weeks.

But let's get super excited, because now, FINALLY, it's here! We've reached… Kingdom Hearts 2.9! XD Hehe. Kidding. But also not kidding? I laughed so hard when that title came up at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 3, what a troll XD But anyway, next chapter we OFFICIALLY dive in to the new game. Wowza! Let's do it! What are you guys looking forward to the most?

On the subject of Kingdom Hearts 3, I'm going to let you all in on a bit of a secret. My current plan is to _add_ second visits to some, if not all, of the worlds. Second visits really helped me with plot structure in the first story, and I think the story structure overall will be better if we have some more time, so that's the main reason why I'm doing it. I'm also planning on adding a couple of Disney worlds that have NOT appeared in previous games! So, mull all that over for a bit. I'm not going to force anything, so if it doesn't feel right to add a new world or a second visit, I won't. But that is the current plan! Feel free to theorize about worlds and second visit plot lines in your reviews~

Also, while I don't plan to CHANGE the plot, I do plan to… let's say move things around. And add to it where I felt it was lacking. I'll love Kingdom Hearts forever but some elements of the story structure in KH3 were… very mishandled in my opinion. So some stuff is gonna happen MUCH earlier than it does in the game, because I just can't have almost _all_ of the plot happen in the final chapters, that's crazy. So don't freak out when I do that lol.

And I think that's all you need to know! I also have a lot of original plot planned that I REALLY love, so I hope you all love it too. I will try really really hard to usually stick to a two or three week update schedule - I think things are going to be much less crazy for me work-wise once July is over. I think.

Thank you so much for reading, please leave a review if you have a moment :) I love you all! Until next time~

~Fade


	13. Zero to Hero

I'm so sorry for the wait again! I'm realizing that this is gonna be a bit harder than last time… I knew KH2 SO well, because I've played it a zillion times. So it was much easier to keep my story on track. But this game is so new and I just don't know it as well, so I'm having to watch over every scene way more and it takes time. Please bear with me!

This game ALSO kinda contradicts some of what I set up in my previous story about how this universe works, because up until now some things were vague in the games, so… I'm trying to figure out how to keep that all smooth too. I'm doing my best, so I hope you all like how it comes out!

Thank you so much as usual to everyone who reviewed! I'm so floored by how many people take the time to read this. Yay! You're all amazing and thank you for sticking with me!

Now then, let's get to it. Please enjoy as we finally begin our journey for realsies!

* * *

" _He wondered if...his dad, Zeus, would write him a note: 'Please excuse Jason from eternal damnation. He has had amnesia.'_ _"_

― Rick Riordan, _The Lost Hero_

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Zero to Hero**

"UGHHH where is heeee?!"

Aila grabbed at her hair with both hands, laying on her back on the grass below Yen Sid's tower. She, Donald, and Goofy were STILL waiting for Sora, and she was basically out of patience. She kicked her feet up and down in frustration, the soles of her shoes making satisfying _plunk plunk plunks_ on the fertile ground. "We've basically been waiting forever! I'm so bored!"

"It _has_ been a long time," Goofy agreed, much calmer than Aila but clearly starting to get a little worried about their missing friend. He was sitting on the stairs leading up to the tower's front door, the same place he'd been since Riku and Mickey had left around an hour ago. "You don't think he ran into any trouble, do ya?"

Donald, who had taken to pacing in front of the tower and mumbling to himself as his own patience reached its limits, let out a groan. "Don't even say it! If Sora managed to get himself into trouble _twice_ in one day, I swear…"

A heavy sigh escaped Aila as she released her hair. "I don't know if I have another daring rescue in me today."

"Me neither," Donald grumbled. He stopped pacing and put his hands on his hips, tapping his foot for a few seconds as he once again searched the stars for any sign of their friend. With his frustration bubbling over, he cupped his hands around his beak and took a deep breath. "SORA! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Aila pressed her hands over her ears and was about to yell at Donald for pointlessly shouting into the sky ( _obviously_ Sora wouldn't hear him) when, suddenly, the air a few feet away from the tower stairs shifted. Donald leapt back, surprised, and Goofy and Aila scrambled to their feet. Aila fell into a defensive stance, one breath away from summoning her weapon — a section of the air was definitely starting to swirl and flicker with some sort of magic. What if Master Xehanort was breaking into this world?!

A bright light burst forth from the disturbed air, Aila, Donald, and Goofy wincing back and covering their eyes against the sudden assault. It dimmed after a few seconds, Aila blinking hard a few times to drive a few remaining colorful splotches of light out of her vision as she once again looked toward the spot in question.

It wasn't Xehanort breaking in — it was Sora! His Keyblade in one hand and a somewhat bemused expression on his face. He glanced back and forth, as if making sure he was in the right place, and then pumped a fist. "Alright! I made it! Boy, this world was hard to travel back to…"

Aila relaxed out of her defensive stance, a relieved smile blossoming onto her face.

"Good job, Donald!" Goofy cheered. "You summoned Sora!"

Sora raised a brow. "Huh?"

Aila laughed, knowing that Donald had just been shouting for no reason, but she decided to play along. "It's true! I thought Donald was just shouting like a crazy person into nothingness, but it looks like he was being helpful after all!"

Aila could see the wheels turning in Donald's head. "Uhhhhhhh yeah! That's right! I was summoning Sora, of course!" He crossed his arms and lifted his beak importantly. "You shouldn't have expected any less from Disney Castle's Royal Magician."

Sora dismissed his Keyblade and crossed his arms as well. "I didn't notice any summoning happening. I made my way back on my own."

"Oh, so you _didn't_ need any help getting back here, then?" Aila asked pointedly. "So you have _no good reason_ for keeping us waiting _all freaking day_?"

"Uhhh…" Sora stuttered, looking a little nervous as he met her intense stare. "I… I guess not…?"

Aila rushed at him, poking him hard in the chest over and over again. "You dummy! You kept Yen Sid waiting for almost forever! Also I was really really bored!"

Sora caught Aila's wrist and recoiled a little. "Hey, ow! Stop iiiit!" He blinked. "Wait, Yen Sid is waiting?" He grinned. "Well come on then, let's talk to him!"

He took off into the tower so quickly that it took Aila, Donald, and Goofy a moment to react, the three of them scrambling to follow the Keyblader inside once they'd processed where he'd gone.

"Hey, slow down!" Aila shouted as Sora began taking the inside stairs two at a time, everyone being forced to do the same in order to keep up with him.

Sora glanced over his shoulder, his eyes twinkling mirthfully. "You said he was waiting, so we gotta get up there!" Well, he seemed like he was in a great mood.

Donald, on the other hand, didn't seem to be feeling quite as giddy. "Okay, start talking!" he demanded as they all continued to run up the stairs.

"Yeah, you were gone a long time," Goofy said, though he sounded much more curious than upset. "What were ya doin'?"

They reached the top of the stairs and Sora turned to face them all, grin still firmly in place. "Heh heh heh. Secret."

Aila shot him a deadpan stare. "Seriously? You're not gonna tell us?"

Sora looked up at the ceiling, making a real show of thinking that question over. "Hmm… maybe later!"

Aila narrowed her eyes and then shrugged, turning away from him. "Fine, then you don't get to hear about our cool bear adventure."

"Bear adventure?" Sora asked, seeming intrigued. "What's that mean?"

Aila turned back toward him and put a finger to her lips. "Secret!"

Sora smirked. "Tch, no fair."

"Didn't we come up here for a reason?" Donald pointed out. "We can all share secrets later."

Sora glanced at Donald before his eyes flickered back to Aila, his lips pressing together slightly, like he wanted to say something else… But then his grin was back, so quickly Aila decided she must have been imagining his previous expression. With maybe too much enthusiasm, Sora turned toward the door to Yen Sid's study and pulled it open. "I'm baaaack!"

Yen Sid, who was seated behind his desk with a very thick book lying open in front of him, nodded in greeting. "Welcome back, Sora."

Aila followed Sora inside, confusion clouding the Keyblader's expression as he looked around. "Huh? Wha… Just us?"

"Who else were you expecting?" Aila asked, Donald pulling the door closed behind himself and Goofy as they followed the teens into the study.

Sora frowned. "Riku? The King?"

Aila waved a hand dismissively. "They left ages ago. Riku and I even left this world and came back in the time you've been gone, and then he left again with the King."

"They had important work to do," Yen Sid said. "So I sent them on their way."

Sora crossed his arms with a huff. "That's great. They coulda said goodbye."

"It's your fault you missed them!" Donald said, pointing accusingly at Sora.

"It is not!" Sora protested, folding his hands behind his head. " _I_ just like to say goodbye to all my friends."

"Then do it faster!" Donald shouted, balling his fists at his side.

Sora leaned down to get in Donald's face, hands on his hips. "I'm here now, right?" The two of them glared at each other. Aila and Goofy exchanged a glance — should they intervene, or just let them bicker…? Aila was on Donald's side for this one, honestly. Who was Sora saying goodbye to, anyway?

"We have matters to discuss," Yen Sid said, calling the attention in the room back to himself. Sora and Donald seemed to immediately forget their almost-fight, both of them straightening up and standing at attention. Aila and Goofy did the same, the four of them eager to hear what Yen Sid had to say.

The sorcerer continued. "In order to defeat Xehanort, there are allies we must gather, acting now to rouse them from their slumber. We have discussed this before." Everyone nodded. Yen Sid's eyes landed on Sora. "Sora, your Mark of Mastery exam was conducted in the hopes you would acquire the power to wake them." Sora crossed his arms and nodded, listening intently as Yen Sid went on, "However, the darkness nearly took control of you, and your grasp of your new abilities leaves much to be desired."

Whoa, that was blunt. Aila quickly glanced at Sora, whose eyes had widened a little at Yen Sid's frankness. Sora let his arms fall to his sides and bowed his head, Yen Sid continuing once again: "Furthermore, Xehanort nearly made you his vessel, and in the process stripped you of most of the power you had gained by then. I suspect you have already noticed this, correct?"

Donald and Goofy were looking very distraught by this point, both of them clearly not liking this conversation. Aila, too, was watching Sora very closely, her heart aching a little for him — if _she_ were the one hearing this from Yen Sid, she would have felt pretty upset, him laying out every mistake like that. Yen Sid seemed like he was trying not to come off like he was reprimanding Sora, so his voice was gentle, but his words were not. Sora's eyes seemed a little unfocused as he stared into the floor, an unusual defeated air radiating from him.

A thought crossed Aila's mind — Sora _had_ taken an extraordinary amount of time coming back to this world; he'd said when he left that whatever he was off to do wouldn't take long. Was it possible that… he took so long coming back because Xehanort had taken most of his power away? Had that made traveling from and back to this world extra hard? Maybe that was what Yen Sid was implying with that last question, because when else could Sora have noticed anything about his power being lessened since he woke up…? Aila suddenly felt guilty about being annoyed with Sora. She should have known it wasn't like him to keep them waiting for so long and then be so aloof about it.

Sora sighed, his shoulders sagging ever so slightly.

"Sora…" Donald and Goofy said together, both of them seeming like they may have come to the same conclusion Aila had. The three of them shared a guilty look. Aila reached out and placed a hand on Sora's shoulder, not really sure what to say.

Sora glanced at her, and Aila felt her breathing hitch as their eyes met. He looked… _so_ sad as he looked at her, almost desperate. She wasn't used to seeing him with that look in his eye. Was he really feeling that powerless? Or was there something else bothering him?

Like a switch had been flipped inside him, Sora suddenly straightened up, shrugging Aila's hand away and putting his hands on his hips. "Whatever! Happens all the time!" He grinned confidently, the expression so completely opposite of what Aila had just seen that she felt like she'd just gotten emotional whiplash. What…? She frowned suspiciously. She'd played off her own true emotions enough times to know what it looked like on someone else.

"Yes," Yen Sid mused, watching Sora with a slight frown as well. But if he was at all concerned, he didn't dwell on it, changing the subject in the next breath. "Chip and Dale are currently analyzing data that Ansem the Wise provided to Riku, and which could offer us a clue to retrieving our friends' lost hearts. I have very high hopes for this data."

Aila's attention was immediately caught by the mention of Ansem the Wise, her eyes snapping to Yen Sid. He gave Riku data…? She shook her head lightly. Riku was working for Ansem the Wise for months — he must have gotten it then. She wasn't sure why she hadn't heard about this data until now, but… maybe it just hadn't come up outside of Riku, Yen Sid, and Chip and Dale. And probably the King. Her chest tightened as she remembered Ansem the Wise's final moments — what she wouldn't give to get the chance to talk to him, if only to try and get some answers… but, obviously, that didn't seem possible now.

"However," Yen Sid continued, "our greatest chance of stopping Xehanort's plan still lies with you, Sora. If you trust the guidance your heart gives, I know we will find all the guardians of light. But first, you must regain all the strength you have lost. Perhaps it is foolish to expect a complete recovery, but it is absolutely vital you perfect one power — the power of waking, which you failed to master during your exam. There's someone who lost his strength and found it again, a true hero to whom you ought to pay a visit."

A true hero…? Aila clasped her hands together excitedly. "Ah! Hercules?!"

Sora laughed and immediately started posing, flexing his muscles like he was the son of Zeus himself.

"What are you doing," Donald deadpanned, though the edges of his beak threatened to turn up into a smile.

"Channeling Herc of course!" Sora replied, snapping into another pose. Aila put a hand to her mouth to hold back a laugh.

Yen Sid smiled ever so slightly. "Perhaps he can point you in the right direction."

Sora laughed and stood up straight again, saluting the sorcerer. "Got it."

Yen Sid nodded.

"Master Yen Sid…" Donald said, stepping forward.

Goofy stepped forward as well. "You can count on us to take care of Sora!"

Aila hurriedly followed their lead. "Uh, yeah! Of course! We'll keep him on track!"

Yen Sid smiled kindly. "I would have it no other way. I put Sora in your hands."

Sora laughed and rushed forward, grabbing his friends in a group hug. "Aw, you guys!" Aila choked slightly as Sora's arm around her neck threatened to cut off her air supply.

"You can't become a Master without us!" Donald insisted, smiling at the Keyblader.

"I never woulda thought you'd fail that exam, Sora," Goofy added casually.

"Hey!" Sora shouted, releasing them and hopping back a little. Aila took a deep breath now that her windpipe wasn't being slightly crushed.

"Face it, you're just a half-pint," Donald taunted Sora, holding up his hands in a shrug.

"But the four of us together make a whole pint!" Goofy declared proudly.

"Wouldn't that be two pints?" Sora asked, putting his hands on his hips.

Aila put a finger to her chin. "Unless the rest of us are, what… A fourth of a pint each? No, wait, you're half, so… a sixth?" She made a face. "Yeesh, we'd better step it up!"

"And don't forget, we'll keep an eye on you!" Donald continued. He laughed and held out his hand, initiating a move that they hadn't done all together since their last adventure had ended.

Goofy immediately placed his hand on top of Donald's, grinning ear to ear. "Oh, this is gonna be lots of fun!"

"Yeah!" Aila cheered, placing her hand on top of Goofy's, excitement coursing through her veins like electricity. This was what she'd been waiting for — the four of them back together on another journey again! "Goodbye boredom, hello adventure!"

"It's not a vacation," Sora pointed out, raising a brow. But then a second later he was smiling and slapping his hand onto the top of the pile. "Let's go!"

The four of them grinned at each other before chanting together, "One for all, and all for one!" and lifting their piled-up hands up into the air. They laughed for a moment before turning back to Yen Sid and exclaiming together, "Count on us!"

Aila felt like her face might split with how wide she was smiling. She remembered having moments of confusion in the past when the boys would all seem to sync up and say the same thing together, but now she was totally on the same brainwave too! _This_ felt right: the four of them, together. Finally, for the first time in weeks, she felt totally at ease again, her heart fluttering with the anticipation of the adventure lying before them.

Yen Sid nodded. "Good luck to you all. Is there anything else any of you would like to discuss before you go…?"

The boys all thought for a minute, Aila bouncing a little impatiently in place. "Come onnnn!" she finally pleaded. "There's nothing else, let's go let's go!"

Yen Sid's eyes rested on Aila for a moment. "I see," he breathed, almost too quiet for anyone else to hear. "Good to know…" He lifted his chin and spoke a little more clearly. "I will see you all upon your return. Now, go forth."

"Yes, sir!" the four of them replied, saluting the sorcerer before hurrying out the door.

"Adventure, adventure!" Aila cheered, taking the stairs two at a time once again.

"We just went on an adventure during Sora's test, didn't we?" Goofy pointed out.

"You did?" Sora asked.

"The bear adventure!" Donald reminded him.

"Yeah, but now we're all back together again!" Aila replied, jumping down the last five stairs and only kind of sticking the landing. She stumbled gracelessly out the front door and rushed down the outside stairs, grinning ear to ear as her feet hit the grass. " _Who puts the glad in gladiator?_ " she sang. She turned back toward the boys, who were still at the top of the outside stairs. "Then you sing, _Her-cu-les!_ "

Sora, Donald, and Goofy glanced at one another before grinning and playing along. " _Her-cu-les!_ "

Aila spun around and skipped across the grass toward their ship, singing once again. " _Whose daring deeds are great theater?_ "

" _Her-cu-les…?_ " the boys responded, a little unsure if they were meant to reply again as they followed Aila toward the ship.

Aila continued the song by herself.

" _Is he bold?_

 _No one braver!_

 _Is he sweet?_

 _Our favorite flavor!_ "

That made Sora burst out laughing. "Wait _what_?!"

Aila stopped at the Gummi ship and turned around, grinning at him. "I dunno, I didn't write it. But that's how it goes!"

"Ohh, it's a song from your world," Sora replied, smiling and shaking his head. "I thought you were making it up."

Aila smirked and posed proudly, puffing out her chest. "Were you impressed?"

"Yeah, but now I'm not."

Aila pouted. "Rude. I haven't heard that song in almost a year and I remember every word! That's impressive."

"It was very short."

"Well that was only a small part! I know the whole thing!"

The four of them made their way onto the Gummi ship and hurriedly took their seats, Donald bringing Sora's chair back up so they were all back in their original seating formation. Nostalgia warmed Aila from the inside out. It really hadn't been _that_ long since the four of them had said goodbye on Destiny Islands, but somehow it felt like it had been an entire lifetime ago. Aila could hardly contain her excitement — everything was back to normal again!

Within a minute they were off, Sora steering the ship away from Yen Sid's world but then… stopping it? Mid flight?

"Um… are we there yet?" Aila joked, confused as to why they weren't moving.

"Hang on," Sora said, messing with the controls. "I'm trying to bring up the map…"

"Uh, didn't the King say that the worlds have prob'ly all moved around since we used the map, though…?" Goofy asked. The map popped up right as he was finishing his question, and, as expected, it was pretty sparse compared to last time. Yen Sid's Tower was available, along with Dunbroch, Radiant Garden, Destiny Islands, and Disney Castle.

"Hm, more than I expected, actually," Aila mused.

"The ship we picked you up on is linked back to Disney Castle's database, same as this one," Donald pointed out. "So the worlds we went to on that one are showing up here." He pressed a few buttons, and greyed out versions of the worlds they had visited on their last journey all came up on the screen. "These are where the worlds were last time." He pointed to Disney Castle, and then to a greyed out version of Disney Castle a little ways away. "See? Disney Castle's location has changed, but not by too much. But…" He pointed to Yen Sid's Tower, and then to the greyed out version of Yen Sid's Tower. There was a much bigger change in location there. "Some worlds have moved more than others. Every once in a while, they all change, and there's really no way to track where they'll end up."

Aila frowned. "Why didn't we have to deal with this last time?"

"Well uh, we kinda did," Goofy pointed out. "Remember? Twilight Town vanished for a while. It musta moved to somewhere else on the map."

"But then it came back," Aila replied.

"Yup! They do that sometimes, too."

Aila sat back in her chair and sighed. "The worlds are very unpredictable."

"It doesn't matter anyway," Donald huffed. "The highways we used to get there are closed now. Sora will have to open new ones." Aila frowned. If the highways the Keyblade had opened up last time were closed, then they could fly in any direction and never come across any other worlds — at least, that was her understanding. It was like the worlds all hid from one another, unless a specific path between them was opened up.

"Seriously?" Sora asked.

"Of course! You opened them last time, didn't you?"

Sora scratched his cheek. "Well, the Keyblade kinda just… activated when it sensed a gate, you know? I didn't do that much."

"Well, just do the same thing again, but this time _you_ initiate instead of the Keyblade," Donald said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"That's not the same thing at all!" Sora slumped back in his chair with a groan. "How are we supposed to get there now?!"

"What!" Donald squawked. "I thought you knew!"

"Hm, I guess we _did_ need to ask Yen Sid about something else before we left," Aila mumbled.

"Didn't Master Yen Sid say that Sora should trust the guidance his heart gives?" Goofy pointed out.

Donald nodded and then looked at Sora again. "C'mon, Sora! Which way?"

Sora folded his hands behind his head and sat back in his chair. "Ummmmm…"

"Hey, would you get serious?" Donald scolded.

"Gimme a break, I'm trying," Sora whined.

"You don't really _look_ like you're trying," Aila pointed out.

Sora shrugged. "These things take time!" He put a hand to his chin and narrowed his eyes. "It's times like these when a Keyblade instruction manual would be really helpful…"

Goofy thought for a second. "Well, since we've already been before, why don't you try picturin' our friends like we're there?"

"On Hercules's world, you mean?" Aila asked.

Goofy nodded. "Uh huh!"

Sora stood up from his chair and walked back into the more open part of the control room. He closed his eyes and hummed thoughtfully, like he was focusing. After a moment, he lifted his arms and flexed. Trying to mimic Hercules again, maybe?

"Well?" Donald asked.

Sora fell out of his pose and shrugged again. "Sorry, I got nothin'. What'd you expect?"

Donald sighed and slumped down in his chair.

Goofy held up a finger. "May your heart be your guiding key."

Everyone looked at him, confused. "Huh? What's that?" Sora asked.

Goofy smiled. "Master Yen Sid always said that, right before we went off on any of our real important adventures."

"Really?" Sora asked. He turned to Donald. "Ring a bell?"

"Uh-uh," Donald replied, shaking his head no.

Goofy furrowed his brow. "Maybe I just imagined it."

Aila spun her chair lightly from side to side, thinking the phrase over. "Well, even if you did imagine it up, I like it. It's like… if you follow your heart, it'll unlock the path you're meant to be on. Right?"

Goofy smiled at her. "Yeah! Somethin' like that."

"May my heart be my guiding key…" Sora mused. His eyes unfocused for a moment, and then suddenly he gasped, a smile blooming on his face. "I've got it!"

He rushed back to the front of the control room and held out his hand, his Keyblade appearing dutifully in a flash of light. The tip of his Keyblade began to glow, brighter and brighter and brighter until they all had to shield their eyes. The air shifted momentarily and then the light began to dim, finally allowing them to open their eyes again. A wormhole had appeared before their ship, bending the space around it and revealing even more stars within. Ah ha! Aila grinned as both Donald and Goofy exclaimed together, "It's a gate!"

Sora dismissed his Keyblade and hurried back to his chair, pumping a fist as he sat down. "All right! Olympus Coliseum, here we come!" Everyone cheered as Sora steered the ship through the gate at full speed, the Keyblader looking elated at having gotten it to open.

"Do you think there'll be a tournament going on?" Aila asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"There usually is," Sora replied, grinning right back. "They must have the Coliseum fixed by now!"

"Sweet!" Aila cheered, spinning her chair in a circle. "You guys promised we'd enter together this time, remember?"

Sora laughed. "Oh, right, I did say that, didn't I?" He smirked at Aila. "What, you want a trophy?"

"Duhh," Aila replied. "If I bring a trophy back from a fighting tournament, maybe I can convince Yuffie to let me graduate from her training!" She stopped spinning and slammed her hands on her chair's armrests, fixing the boys with a very serious look. "If I ever die under mysterious circumstances, it was probably a training session gone awry. Avenge me."

"Aw, I'm sure Yuffie would never put you in a situation she didn't know you could handle," Goofy chuckled. "She cares about you too much to let you get really hurt."

Aila leaned back in her chair. "Hmm. I guess. Still though, I want that trophy."

"One trophy, coming up!" Donald replied, seeming pumped up as well.

"If we get Herc on our team too, we'll win for sure," Sora added.

Aila frowned. "Is that cheating since he's, like, the champion…?"

"No, it's friendship!"

Aila laughed, and then gasped. "OH my gosh! Sora! I completely forgot! You have to tell me EVERYTHING!"

Sora looked very taken aback. "Wh-what? Everything about… what?"

Aila pushed herself up so she was kneeling in her chair, practically bouncing on her knees as she did her best to reign in her excitement. "When I went into the dream worlds, I was in Fantasia, from a movie on my world! It was soooo cool! So I gotta know what other worlds you went to during your test!"

Sora looked strangely relieved for some reason after Aila clarified. "Oh. Well, hm, let's see…" He swiveled his chair to face her and leaned his head back, thinking. "I went to Traverse Town first. Do you know that one?"

"Yes!" Aila replied.

"Oh, we haven't been there in a while," Goofy mused, seeming happy to hear about Sora's adventures as well.

"Yeah, it was cool being back!" Sora replied. "I met this guy Neku, he was pretty cool."

"Neku?" Aila asked, cocking her head. That name sounded kinda familiar. "What'd he look like?"

"Umm spiky hair, headphones, a shirt with a reeeally big collar…"

Aila tapped her temple with a finger. "I feel like… maybe Danny played a game back home that he was in once…" She smiled sheepishly. "I never got around to playing some of the ones he played cause I just wanted to play Kingdom Hearts again…"

Sora smirked. "Hm, so you were obsessed with us, huh?"

Aila felt her face heat up a little and she looked away. "Tch, noooo… It was just relaxing cause I already knew what to do!"

"Suuure," Sora taunted. Donald and Goofy chuckled.

Aila huffed. "Whatever! Where else did you go?"

Sora was still smirking, but continued. "The next place I went had this huge church with a bell on top, I think it was called… No-tar…"

" _Notre Dame_?!" Aila squealed, almost leaping out of her chair. "WHAT! No way! Oh my gosh! Did you meet Quasimodo?!"

Sora laughed. "Yeah, he was cool!"

Aila collapsed dramatically over one of her armrests. "Aw mannnn I wanna go… But wait!" Her eyes narrowed. "Did you meet Frollo too?"

Sora made a face. "Ugh, yeah. He sucked."

"He's the worst!" Aila agreed. She shivered. "Actually I'm glad I didn't meet him, I hate him. He's so creepy. And crazy."

"Creepy and crazy describes him perfectly," Sora nodded. He looked between Donald and Goofy. "He was keeping this really nice guy Quasimodo as basically a prisoner in this church."

"And he wants to murder Esmerelda because he thinks she's too pretty," Aila added.

Sora's eyes widened. "Wait wait, what? I thought he hated her people and that's why he was after her?"

"Noo," Aila said, shaking her head vigorously. "Well I mean yes but also no. In the movie on my world, he sings this song — it's like an amazing song, but super super evil — about how he feels attracted to her so she must be sent by the devil tempting him to sin so he has to kill her, _unless of course_ she decides to be with him. Because then I guess it's okay?"

"Yikes," Donald replied, all three boys making very disgusted faces.

"I didn't realize that at all," Sora added, sounding very grossed out. "And I already thought he was the worst…"

"Yup," Aila replied. "Frollo sucks." She leaned forward, changing the subject. "So where else?"

Sora smiled and shook his head in bemusement. "So after that… Oh! I went into the Grid again!"

"Tron's world?" Goofy asked.

Sora nodded. "Yeah! But… it was super different. And Tron was super different too."

"Maybe you went to the original Tron's world," Aila suggested. At the boys' blank stares, she elaborated. "Remember? Tron said that Ansem copied his program from ENCOM and uploaded it to the computer in Radiant Garden. So the Tron we know technically isn't the real Tron — he's a copied version that probably became a very _different_ version since he learned different things."

Realization seemed to dawn on Sora. "Ohhh… That… makes everything make a lot more sense."

"You didn't realize it wasn't the same Tron?!"

Sora shrugged defensively. "I dunno! I was sad he didn't remember me, and he was acting completely different, but… I don't know how computers work, okay?!"

Aila pressed her hands to her cheeks, furrowing her brows at Sora. "What do you _mean_ you were sad he didn't remember you? Didn't this whole test take place in the past, _before_ you would have met Tron anyway?"

Sora blinked. "…Oh. Right."

Aila, Donald, and Goofy all laughed as Aila shook her head. "Oh man, Sora. I guess technically you were dreaming so maybe you weren't thinking straight, but still…"

Sora huffed, slouching down in his chair and crossing his arms. "Fine, guess I won't tell you any more, then."

"No no no!" Aila pleaded, pressing her hands together before her. "You gotta tell me the rest, pleeeease?"

Sora rolled his eyes, but conceded. "Okay, after that I went to a circus kinda place."

Aila cocked her head. "Circus…? Dumbo?"

"Oh, we know Dumbo!" Donald said, perking up again.

Goofy nodded. "Yeah! He was stuck in a summon stone on our first journey! Pretty sure he's back home now."

Sora held up his hands. "No, no, Dumbo wasn't there. Pinocchio was, though. And Jiminy too!"

"Wha? At a circus?" Aila asked, very confused. She looked to Goofy, waiting for Jiminy to come out of his pocket and maybe explain, but… he didn't. "Huh? Where _is_ Jiminy?"

"Oh," Goofy replied, "While you an' Riku were off gettin' Kairi, Master Yen Sid sent Jiminy back to Disney Castle to give Chip and Dale the data Riku got from Ansem."

"Kairi?!" Sora asked. "Wait, she's at Yen Sid's tower?!"

"No, Master Yen Sid sent her to Radiant Garden," Donald replied. "She's training with Lea to use a Keyblade."

"WHAT!" Sora exclaimed, looking absolutely ecstatic. "She's training right now?! That's so awesome!" His face fell. "Wait, with Lea…? Is she okay with that?"

"She was a little shocked," Aila replied, "but we all assured her he's good now, and she seemed willing to believe us. So… I think she's okay."

"Hm," Sora replied, frowning a little. "Well… that's good. He _is_ good now, so… that should probably be okay… We should check in on them soon though. Just to be sure."

"Of course we can do that," Goofy agreed. Sora smiled gratefully.

"So Jiminy isn't here…" Aila mused, returning to the original topic. "Who's gonna keep a record of all the cool stuff we do?"

"Guess we'll just have to remember it ourselves," Donald shrugged.

"Ugh, so much effort…" Aila leaned back in her chair and stared up at the ceiling. "Pinocchio and Jiminy at a circus…" She wracked her brain, trying to figure out where a circus came in to Pinocchio's story. She hadn't seen his movie in a _really_ long time… "…Were there any donkeys around?"

Sora thought for a second. "I don't think so…? Though now that you mention it…" He gestured at the sides of his head like he was trying to show really tall ears. "Pinocchio had ears like this, and a tail, too."

Aila shuddered. "Ohhhh yeah, okay. You were on that island they take misbehaving children to. That place gave me nightmares when I was little."

"They take misbehaving children to an island?" Donald asked.

Aila nodded, leaning forward and lowering her voice to a whisper. "These bad guys find kids who seem like they might do bad things, and then take them to this island that seems super fun, but when they misbehave and do things like drink and gamble they turn into donkeys, and then the bad guys _sell them_ to… I dunno, do hard labor forever or something? Or be eaten?! Who knows."

"Why are you whispering?" Sora asked, smirking a little.

"Because it's terrifying! Isn't that so scary?!"

"Gwarsh, that does sound scary," Goofy agreed.

Donald shrugged. "Just be a good kid, then."

Aila scoffed. "Hey, they were told that everything on the island was okay, it's not fair to punish them _forever_ for believing that!"

"…Yeah okay good point," Donald conceded. "Those bad guys are no good."

Sora huffed. "If I'd seen any of them I would have taught them a lesson! But it was just me and Jiminy and Pinocchio. And a fairy lady… that world seems very dream-y, looking back on it now."

"Okay, where else? There were a few more worlds, right?" Aila asked, eager to stop thinking about that creepy donkey island. It always bothered her that the movie never resolved that… she was pretty sure those kids never got rescued. Maybe she and the guys should look into that someday…

Sora planted his elbow on one of his chair's armrests and rested his chin in his hand. "Ummm… oh, I went to R—" He stopped suddenly and sat up, quickly spinning his chair away and coughing into his hand.

"You okay, Sora?" Goofy asked, looking concerned.

"U-uh, yeah! I just, uh, breathed wrong… heh…" His voice sounded kinda shaky. Aila raised a brow. "A-anyway, next I went to Disney Castle!"

"Huh?!" Donald gasped, leaning in eagerly.

"That's funny, we went to Disney Castle while you were sleepin', too," Goofy mused. "Wonder if we just missed ya."

"No no, he would have been there at some point in the past," Aila reminded Goofy. "And also in like a frozen-in-time dream version. So we couldn't have run into each other."

"Oh," Goofy blinked. He chuckled. "That's real confusin'!" Aila had to agree.

"Y-yeah, I met you guys there," Sora said, talking a little fast for some reason as he turned his chair to face everyone again. His expression seemed a little… strained or something. Maybe he was still feeling like he was choking from air going down the wrong pipe. "Donald, Goofy, and the King. Though, he wasn't the King yet — you guys were all Musketeers."

"WHAAAT," Aila exclaimed, both Donald and Goofy having looked at her with identical smirks when Musketeers were mentioned. "No fair! We just talked about when they were Musketeers! Oh my goshhh that's so cool that you got to see it!" She stood up, hopping from foot to foot excitedly. "Was Pete causing trouble?! And Minnie was the Queen already, right?!"

Sora's expression finally calmed back into more relaxed amusement as he watched her. "Yes and yes."

"Were the Beagle Boys there?!"

"Ugh, those guys," Donald grumbled.

Sora nodded. "Right again! Sounds like you would have been helpful if you'd been there."

"Heck yes I would have!" Aila gushed, miming swinging a sword. "Take that, Beagle Boys! Don't kidnap the Queen!"

Sora laughed. "And then after that was a world that I actually thought you would really like — it was like, everything I touched reacted… musically."

"Oh! Fantasia!" Aila replied, grinning ear to ear. "That's the one I went to when I was looking for you and Riku! You're right, I loved it so much!" Aila held up a finger. "Except for Chernabog, I coulda done without him. And also the mean Nightmares tricking me with their cuteness when they actually wanted to kill me. But everything else was amaaaazing!" She collapsed back into her chair. "So cool. Guess I know the rest from there." She noticed that Sora was looking at her very strangely now, a strained frown pulling at his lips and that same tension back in his eyes. "Hm? What is it?"

Sora startled. "Huh? Oh, nothing!" He spun his chair away again and cleared his throat. "I guess, um… Sorry for causing so much trouble for you all. Thanks again for coming to save me."

"Aw Sora, don't worry about it," Goofy assured. "You couldn't o' known that Xehanort would be able to hijack your test or nothin'. We're all just glad you're okay."

"Yeah!" Aila agreed. "Besides, I owed you a rescue. I feel like we were getting pretty uneven with how many times _you_ came to _my_ rescue last year." She said it jokingly, expecting Sora to laugh, but he didn't. If anything, his shoulders tensed a little, like her words had struck some kind of nerve. She frowned. "…Are you sure you're okay?"

"If you're upset about your strength being zapped by Xehanort, I'm sure Hercules will know what to do," Donald assured.

"Yeah!" Goofy added. "An' we'll be here to help ya if you need us! So don't worry!"

Sora leaned back in his chair, his voice quieter than usual. "Right…" He paused for another moment. "…Hey, Aila…?"

"Yeah?"

Sora hesitated for a few more seconds. "Well…" He spun his chair back to face them all, his usual carefree smile firmly in place. "You haven't told me about your bear adventure yet!"

Aila laughed. "Oh! Well! While you were asleep, Yen Sid sent us on a mission to a new world!"

"That's right," Goofy said, leaning over and patting Aila's shoulder proudly. "Master Yen Sid asked Aila to go save a world that was dyin'! Like she did with the Pride Lands."

"Really?" Sora asked enthusiastically. "Whoa, that's so cool! I assume you did it?"

Aila puffed her chest out proudly. "Of course. I'm pretty awesome."

Donald rolled his eyes. "Oh brother, don't you get a huge ego like Sora now."

"Hey!" Sora exclaimed, glaring. "I don't have a huge ego!" He turned to Aila and Goofy. "Right guys? Come on, back me up!"

Aila and Goofy exchanged a look. Aila made a show of thinking it over. "Welllll…" Goofy chuckled.

Sora threw his hands up. "Betrayal! I'm gone for one mission and you're all against me!"

"Well don't sleep through the next one," Donald teased, shrugging. They all laughed.

"So why do you call it a 'bear adventure'?" Sora asked. "Were you all turned into bears?"

"Surprisingly, no," Aila replied. "Though… I'm kinda shocked that we weren't, honestly. So check it, there was this crazy magic old lady who was _obsessed_ with bears, she had like a zillion bear carvings in her house, and she gave this girl Merida a spell that turned her mom into a bear!"

Sora quirked a brow. "What? Why would anyone want that?"

"Merida phrased her request very poorly," Donald sighed. "She wanted her mom to change, so the spell changed her… into a bear."

Sora blinked, and then laughed. "Oh no."

"Yeah, also we fought a bear," Aila continued. "He was super strong. It turned out that he used to be a prince or something and the old lady had changed _him_ into a bear a long time ago, and since he never broke the curse, he lost all his humanity and just became a monster… Huh. That lady might have been a little evil, now that I'm really thinking about it…" Aila reached into her pouch and pulled out the map she'd used on Merida's world. "But she _did_ give me this!" She opened it and summoned a little Light to her fingers, so the map would appear on the parchment. "See? A map that only I can activate!" She blinked at it for a second. "Whoa! Look, it even shows where we are in space! So it works anywhere?!"

Donald got up and stomped over to her, snatching the map away. "Yeah, but don't use it when you don't have to!"

Aila whined in protest. "Hey!"

"Donald's right, Aila," Goofy said. "Let's only use the map if we really need it, so you don't use your powers too much."

Aila sighed. "Fiiiine." She held out her hand to Donald. "Give it back though."

"Wait, why don't we wanna use it too much?" Sora asked as Donald reluctantly handed the map back to Aila.

"Because it's dangerous," Donald replied huffily.

"The map? I mean I guess if it was given to you by a potentially evil magical woman…"

"No, not the map," Donald said, shaking his head. "Aila's powers!"

Sora cocked his head. "Huh? I thought we got over thinking it was dangerous for her to use them last year?"

Goofy frowned. "Well, the King doesn't want her usin' 'em too much. Apparently it could give away her location to some dangerous people."

Sora looked immediately concerned. "What?"

Aila put the map back in her pouch and rolled her eyes. "Everyone's overreacting. I've been using them for months and no one's shown up. Besides, I'm moving around to different worlds so much that it could hardly matter if someone knew where I was, so I'm sure it's fine."

"Aila…" Sora began, sounding very serious.

"I won't use them if I don't have to," Aila said, cutting him off. "But I'm not gonna _not_ use them, like in battle or whatever." She glanced out the window. "They get stronger and stronger again the more I practice… so maybe once they're back to a certain level, Celina will start talking again." She looked back to the boys. "So please don't make me stop using them altogether — I just don't think I can do that. Not until Celina's back, at least."

The boys all exchanged a glance before the three of them sighed. "Fine," Donald conceded. "Just don't use them more than you really need to, okay?"

Aila smiled. "Deal."

Sora once again looked very troubled as he swiveled his chair back toward the front of the ship, his gaze dropping to the control panel. Aila looked away, hoping he wouldn't argue against Donald on this. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but was holding himself back. Good, because the idea of not using her powers at all… Her heart sped up with anxiety just at the idea of it. When she used her powers, her connection to Celina didn't feel completely gone, and the longer Celina stayed silent, the more desperate Aila was to hold on to that connection.

It only took them a few hours to reach Hercules's world, which was lucky, and they only ran into a handful of Heartless ships on the way. Sora joked about good omens, and Donald grumbled about how he was jinxing them all. A sense of normalcy settled deep in Aila's veins, and so she couldn't help the smile that seemed to have made a home on her face as Sora brought them in for a landing. The constant anxiety that had been buzzing in her stomach ever since Celina had vanished was hardly noticeable now. She decided to leave her headphones behind again, feeling confident that she wouldn't need them with all three of the boys around to talk to, and the four of them exited onto the world together.

Donald cloaked the ship as Aila looked around, a little confused at first — this _was_ Hercules's world, wasn't it? It seemed like Sora had parked them in a place she'd never been before, hidden amidst tall cliffs and plush green grass.

Sora, too, seemed a little confused. "No fanfare?" he asked, raising his hands up to his mouth and imitating a trumpet.

Donald put a hand to his ear and listened for a second before shaking his head. "Uh-uh."

Goofy put a hand over his eyes and squinted at their surroundings. "Nope, looks like we missed the Coliseum."

Donald put his hands on his hips. "Sora!"

Sora laughed. "I was a little off, sorry! But hey, I figured parking here would be better than in the Underworld? But I didn't realize how far away it was I guess…"

Aila sighed. "Okay well yes I agree this is better than the Underworld. But you _do_ at least know which way the Coliseum is from here, right?"

Sora hummed before turning toward a path leading straight for the nearest cliff. "Yep, I think it's this way!" He started walking confidently, Donald, Goofy, and Aila all sharing a skeptical look.

"Up the mountain?" Donald asked.

Sora turned back toward them all. "Yeah. 'Up' _is_ the usual direction."

"Is it, though?" Aila deadpanned.

Goofy chuckled. "Well, never hurts to have your head in the clouds!"

"Yes it does," Donald muttered.

Sora ignored Donald and pumped his fist. "Exactly! Besides, have I ever led your wrong before?" He began walking again without waiting for an answer from anyone.

Goofy chuckled while Donald just lifted his hands in exasperation.

"Hm, guess Sora's officially back to being our leader again," Aila laughed, starting to follow him. She glanced back at Donald and smirked. "You had a good run."

Goofy fell in step beside Aila, still smiling. "Guess everything's back ta normal!"

Sora glanced back to see that Donald still hadn't started moving. "Hey! We're leaving!"

Aila and Goofy chuckled as Donald hurried to finally follow, the four of them trekking down a short path that led to a small clearing surrounded by high, rocky cliffs. The center of the clearing had an old, colorful circular mosaic made out of small, dusty square-cut stones. Grass was growing over parts of the mosaic, like this place hadn't been visited in a long time. Some man-made walls were also erected on the other side of the clearing, with faded paintings of what seemed to be a city in the mountains decorating the stones. And above that, sitting amidst a bit of overgrowth, was what seemed to be a very large, seated statue of Zeus.

"Whoa," Aila breathed, blinking as she followed Sora out into the sunlight of the clearing.

"What is this place?" Donald asked.

"Maybe… the remains of an old temple?" Aila guessed, her eyes glued to the statue of Zeus. "There are big statues of Zeus in temples, so… this must have been one too."

"Wonder why it got forgotten?" Goofy wondered.

Sora shrugged. "Maybe it was too hard to get to?"

Donald sighed. "Great, good place to park, then."

"Right? Now no one will find our ship!" Sora grinned, like that had definitely been his plan all along. Donald rolled his eyes.

The sound of Darkness swirling caught everyone's attention, around a dozen Heartless popping into the clearing before the group. The gang fell into fighting stances, all of them summoning their weapons in preparation for a fight. A couple of Shadows, some Soldiers, and a Large Body - nothing too tough. Aila smirked. This would be easy.

Two Soldiers charged first and Sora leapt forward to meet them, slicing his Keyblade across their armor with a satisfying _clang!_ Aila, Donald, and Goofy hurried to help, Aila immediately going for a Shadow that happened to be the closest to her. Hey, it wasn't her fault the weakest one had appeared next to her!

She slammed her staff into its side and sent it tumbling into a wall, its yellow eyes blinking unevenly like it was dazed as it slumped to the ground. She rushed at it and stabbed the sharp end of her staff into its middle to finish it off, its darkness evaporating away into nothing. Aila grinned and turned around, only to gasp and dodge as the Large Body came barreling toward her. She rolled to her knees as the big Heartless bounced off the wall she'd just been standing in front of, summoning a bit of Light to her free hand and preparing to shoot it at the enemy. She went from easiest enemy of the bunch to most difficult, but it wasn't like she couldn't handle a Large Body anymore — especially if she shot some of her Light—

"Aila, practice your magic!" Donald called as he took out a Soldier. "You don't need your Light against these guys!"

Aila sighed and rolled her eyes, but Donald was right - none of these enemies were very strong, and it _was_ a good opportunity to work on some spells. Allowing her Light to fade, she instead stood and pointed her staff at the Large Body, feeling heat radiate in her fingertips. "Fire!" she shouted, a sizable fireball bursting forth and striking the Heartless dead on. She cast a few more of the same thing, pelting the enemy until it faded. She grinned and shouldered her staff proudly before glancing at Donald. "There, happy?"

"AILA!"

Aila suddenly found herself being pushed roughly out of the way as Sora intercepted a Soldier that had been trying to pounce at her from behind, his Keyblade catching the Heartless's metal claws mid swipe. Sora slammed the Heartless into the ground and stabbed his Keyblade roughly into it, the thing fading immediately.

"Uh… thanks?" Aila said, a little irked by Sora pushing her so suddenly, even if he was trying to keep her from getting hit. But it was just a stupid Soldier — it wouldn't have been that big of a hit anyway.

Sora turned to face her, his expression seeming a bit irked as well. "Be careful! Are you hurt?!"

"No…?" Aila replied, highly confused.

Sora huffed, his gaze shifting to the last few Heartless. "I got this, just hang back." He rushed the enemies, casting a fireball of his own as he went and leaving a very confused Aila behind him. Why the heck was he being so intense? These guys were nothing!

Aila shook her head and ran after him, lifting her staff and slamming it into one of the final Soldiers. She raised her staff to hit it again when Sora's Keyblade came flying in from her left, taking out the Soldier for her. She glanced his way, confused once again.

Sora caught his Keyblade as it returned to him. "I said I got it!"

"But…" Aila began, but it seemed Sora wasn't listening, already focusing on hitting the final enemies with a series of slashes.

Goofy walked up to join Aila and cocked his head a bit. "Uh, I guess he wants to get some practice in?"

"I guess…" Aila agreed, frowning a little as she watched the Keyblader. That had been really weird. Maybe he was feeling defensive about Yen Sid saying all his power was gone? But it wasn't like he had to prove himself to them, and besides, he seemed to be fighting just fine. His fireball had maybe seemed a little weak, but…?

The last enemy faded and Sora dismissed his Keyblade, hurrying back to Aila again with concern deep in his eyes. "Okay, that was the last one. You sure you're okay?"

Aila's frown deepened. "Yeah, I'm good. You know I've been helping the Restoration Committee keep these things out of town like every day, right…?"

Sora blinked and then rubbed the back of his head, turning away. "Right, of course! Yeah…"

Donald joined the group and crossed his arms. "Well, you seem like you're fighting okay, Sora. Though your magic could use some help."

Sora sighed. "Oh, you noticed that, huh?"

Goofy clasped him on the shoulder. "Don't worry! I'm sure it'll come back to ya soon!" Sora smiled tightly at his friend. Looked like maybe he was just feeling insecure about his own abilities right now…? Still, Aila had to fight down a little annoyance at him singling her out — she could handle herself in a fight, especially against such weak enemies. He must have just been projecting.

Shaking away her annoyance, Aila smiled. "Yeah, what Goofy said! I'm sure we'll get lots of practice in here anyway. We can train with Phil for the games!"

"If we ever get there," Donald pointed out, glaring up at the high walls all around them. "Where do we go from here?"

Sora turned away and pointed toward the statue. "I told you, up!" Aila looked a little harder and realized there seemed to be another path up there, but… there wasn't really any easy way to get to it.

Donald sighed. "Very helpful."

"Oh! I know!" Aila said, hurrying over to the wall below the statue. She lifted a hand and grinned at the boys. "I can make platforms out of my Light to give us a boost!"

"Uh, no," Donald said, holding up his arms in an 'x'. "We should figure out a way _without_ using your powers."

Aila glared. "Seriously? But it's such a simple solution."

"Not if you have to do it a dozen times!"

"Maybe that can be a last resort," Goofy suggested. "But Donald's right — the King said only to use your powers when you really have to, an' maybe ya don't have to."

Aila ran a hand down her face. This trend of the boys trying to limit her power usage again was frustrating already. So far this adventure wasn't quite as fun as she'd hoped it would be.

"There's gotta be another way up there," Sora mused, staring at the path above them.

Resigning herself, Aila stared at the wall before her again, trying to think of another way up it. "Man, if this was the dream worlds we could just use Flowmotion to get up…"

"Oh!" Sora gasped, rushing up to the wall. "That's a good idea!"

Aila quirked a brow at him. "What is?"

Sora grinned. "Flowmotion!"

"What's that?" Donald asked.

Sora turned to Donald and Goofy. "It's something we used in the dream worlds. It was really helpful in reaching high up places."

"Yeah, but we're not _in_ the dream worlds anymore," Aila pointed out. "There's like, real world gravity out here."

Sora didn't seem to be listening, already backing away from the wall and getting ready to run at it. "We'll never know unless we try, right?"

Aila shrugged and moved out of the way, curious (albeit skeptical) to see if Sora might be able to get Flowmotion to work out here. The Keyblader ran at the wall and leapt, his shoes connecting with the stone. Everyone held their breath, waiting for something to happen… but then Sora just yelped and fell to the ground.

"Wow. Amazing," Donald deadpanned. Aila snickered.

"You okay, Sora?" Goofy asked as Sora pushed himself to his feet.

Sora rushed away from the wall and turned toward it again. "Yeah, lemme try again!"

"Oh brother," Donald sighed. Sora ran and jumped at the wall again, and once again he fell to the ground in a heap.

Aila clasped her hands behind her back. "Just say the word and I'll make some platforms…"

"No, I got this, just a few more times!" Sora insisted, setting up to try again. He tried a few more times with no success, the other three continuing to watch from the sidelines.

"Uh, do you really think it's gonna work?" Goofy asked Donald and Aila quietly.

"Not really," Donald replied.

Aila sighed, about to agree with Donald, when Sora suddenly let out an excited yell. "HEY did you see that?! Something happened!"

Aila, Donald, and Goofy all blinked. None of them had been watching anymore. "Uhhh…" Aila replied.

"We missed it," Donald said. "But you're still not up the wall. So what happened?"

"Something sparked!" Sora insisted, backing up from the wall once again. "Watch this time!"

They did, watching as Sora rushed toward the wall and leapt at it with utmost determination. His shoes connected with the stone and, low and behold, there was a spark. Aila's eyes widened as light blue magic seemed to creep around Sora's soles, holding for only a moment before fading away. Sora fell to the ground again, but immediately sat up and grinned triumphantly. "Did you see?!"

"Yer shoes got all glowy!" Goofy replied.

"But you didn't get any farther," Donald pointed out, crossing his arms skeptically.

Sora stood and waved a hand. "I just need more practice! But that was totally almost Flowmotion!"

"How…?" Aila asked, baffled.

Sora put a hand to his chin, thinking. "I just tried to remember how Flowmotion felt in the dream worlds and then tried to feel that again out here. It's kinda like… using a spell. You have to _feel_ the weightlessness."

"Oh boy, let's all try!" Goofy suggested, rushing toward the wall. He unfortunately jumped a little late, slamming face first into it before falling back onto the ground. "Gwarsh…"

Sora chuckled. "You gotta jump _onto_ the wall, not into it."

The four of them lined up and began practicing, trying their best to feel what Sora was describing. Donald eventually prompted a time out in order to teach the rest of them a new spell — Zero Gravity. It was _meant_ to be used to hold enemies in place in the air, but if they used it right, it could in theory help them achieve the weightless state they were going for.

So, with the help of their new spell, the four of them continued to try and activate Flowmotion. And eventually, it worked! Sora got the blue light to completely engulf him first, making it a few steps up the wall before falling. Aila finally got the magic to spark beneath her feet but then immediately fell in her surprise. It took Donald and Goofy longer to find a spark, since they'd never used such a power before, but _finally_ , all four of them figured it out.

"Ha!" Sora crowed, grabbing Aila's hand as she finally made it to the top of the wall and pulling her onto solid ground, the blue glow of Flowmotion fading around her. "See?! We did it!"

"Yeah, and it only took at least an hour," Aila sighed, collapsing to her knees in exhaustion. Goofy yelped as he neared the top of the wall, Aila and Sora lunging to grab his arm and pull him up to their level. Donald managed to make it up with a bit of help a second later, the four of them sighing in relief. "This is way harder than it was in a dream!" Aila whined.

"No kidding," Donald scoffed.

Sora beamed. "Yeah, but we figured it out! Now come on, onto the next one!" He gestured at another high wall to their right, the rest of them groaning as they realized they weren't at the top yet. They weren't even to the path they'd been looking at yet! Rather, they were on the platform the Zeus statue was sitting on, which seemed like another dead end without some magical climbing. Yay.

"Let's let our mana replenish first," Donald sighed, letting his staff fade — they'd needed their weapons out to cast Zero Gravity as they went.

"I'm sure it'll get easier the more we try," Goofy said, always the optimist. "But uh, yeah, let's take a break for a minute."

Sora sighed, seeming impatient, but didn't argue. If Aila looked closely, she thought she could see him breathing a little harder than usual. This was wearing him out, too, despite his attempts to pretend otherwise. She remembered the way he'd easily scaled the wall of Beast's Castle during the fight with Gaston last year and frowned a little. Maybe his power really _was_ much lower than it had been before; in theory this should have been much easier for him. She decided not to voice that thought aloud.

Aila stood and wandered up to the statue while the others rested for a few minutes, craning her neck to look up at Zeus's stone face. It was so detailed. It was kinda sad that such a well made statue seemed to have been forgotten. The statue was sitting a bit higher than where Aila was standing, and so she climbed up a few nearby rocks and on top of a small stone railing in order to get closer. She rested a hand on the leg of the statue, cocking her head curiously. It was faint, but she could swear she could feel a kind of… hum beneath the stone. In the movie, Zeus was able to possess one of these statues to talk to Hercules — maybe a bit of his power existed inside of them all? "Cool," Aila breathed, gazing up at the statue's face once again. For one tenth of a second she swore she saw the mouth of the statue twitch into a smile — but then she blinked and it was back to normal. She put a hand to her head. The sunlight must have been playing tricks on her.

The group continued after a short rest, up a second wall and then up a slanted path to a third, the four of them sighing in relief when there didn't immediately seem to be a forth wall immediately in front of them. Goofy was right, getting up the walls was getting easier and easier as they went, but it was also using up quite a bit of mana as they continued to rely on Zero Gravity to trigger the effect. Luckily, Donald had a few Ethers on him, and so they continued forward.

After a few minutes they came to a cluster of leafless trees overlooking an edge of the mountain, the group stopping to gaze out at the land below. No Coliseum in sight. Aila frowned.

"I think we might be goin' in circles," Goofy mused, scratching his head curiously.

Sora crossed his arms with a hum, Donald glaring at him. "Sora…!"

"Did I make a turn at the wrong rock?" Sora asked aloud.

Aila facepalmed. "You said you knew where to go!"

Sora cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey! Hercules! Where are youuuu?!"

Aila sighed. "First Donald, now you. Yelling into the sky isn't gonna help us find anyone."

Sora shrugged. "Well it was worth a shot."

"Look!" Donald said, pointing up to the sky.

They all looked up, a ball of… something seeming to be heading out of the clouds and down toward them.

"Gwarsh, maybe yellin' at the sky _did_ work!"

Aila frowned as the ball got closer, its smoky black edges becoming more distinguishable. "I don't think that's Herc…"

The ball touched down before them and black smoke burst forth, forcing the group to cover their mouths and eliciting a few coughs from them all.

"All right. I know I dotted my I's, crossed my T's, zeroed the hero," a very familiar, snide voice said from within the smoke. The smoke cleared and Hades, Lord of the Dead, remained, a very annoyed expression on his pointed face as he rubbed his temples. "So what gives? Who could possibly be trying to give me a migraine by yodeling that yutz's name?"

Sora groaned. "Really? Hades?"

"Not again," Donald grumbled. Aila sighed. She'd been hoping he would have been trapped by his own ghosts a _little_ longer than this, but apparently all their work last time had been undone already.

Hades, finally noticing the group, sighed right back. "Oh, it's just you. Oy vey."

Sora put his hands on his hips. "It's just us? Even for you that's cold."

Hades sneered. "Don't forget~! I can always TURN UP THE HEAT!" Sora only barely flinched, his hands still on his hips as he stared Hades down. Aila did her best to copy him, but she couldn't help but fall into a slightly defensive stance. Sure, they'd defeated Hades before, but it wasn't like it had been a piece of cake…

Hades glanced at Aila and frowned. "Ugh, you. You know what a headache you've caused me?! That little past life of yours has been a real nuisance ever since you gave her some _hope_ or whatever."

Aila's eyes widened. "Lucy?" She narrowed her eyes again. "You'd better not hurt her!"

Hades waved a hand and rolled his eyes. "Calm down. I'd rather just get rid of her at this point. She's been a real pain, rallying everyone against me. _So_ annoying."

"Good, then let her go," Donald suggested, crossing his arms.

Hades smirked. "Yeah right. That's not how it works, bird brain. She's stuck with me, pain or not." He shrugged. "I'm sure that spark of hope will fade again eventually, and she'll be much easier to keep in her place." Aila clenched her fists angrily, once again wishing Celina was here — she'd known Hades the longest, so maybe she could help figure out some loophole to get Lucy out of the Underworld?

Goofy frowned. "Wait, if Hades is here, then where's Herc?"

"What is everyone's infatuation with that DOLT?!" Hades screamed, the flames on his head turning momentarily orange in his anger. His flames and body returned to blue and he straightened up, turning away from the group. "Ah, you know what, never mind. Never mind, I'm cool, I'm good. Because! Wonderboy'll be out of my hair soon enough."

That was enough to get the group to summon their weapons. "So you're up to no good again!" Sora said, glaring hard.

"Of course he is," Goofy agreed.

Donald nodded. "You bet!"

Hades turned to face them all with a chuckle. "Whoa, easy — what is this, Sparta? Kind of on a schedule — don't have time to toss around the ol' fire and brimstone." He turned away again, looking up at the sky. "The whole cosmos is basically waiting for me to, y'know, conquer it!"

Sora straightened up. "Poor Hades," he began mockingly. Aila glanced at him, not sure it was wise to poke the bear, but Sora continued, "He thinks he can actually pull it off this time!"

Hades glanced back at Sora, his smirk darkening. "You're a little late this time, kid — _I already did._ " He lifted his arms and bellowed, "Where are my Titans?! Show me your power!"

The sky immediately darkened and a sharp chill ran up Aila's spine. "Titans?" she breathed, confused. Wait… was Hades doing the prophecy thing?! But, but…! She thought maybe they'd avoided that! Since the end of their last journey was kinda what happened in his defeat in the movie!

Everyone gasped as the ground began to shake, and then, peering over the top of the mountains, four _massive_ being came into view. The two headed Rock Titan, the Ice Titan, the Lava Titan, and the Tornado Titan all glared down at the group, their forms blotting out the remaining sun and plunging the gang into harsh shadows.

The Ice Titan took a deep breath and blew an icy wind at them all, the four of them bracing against it. Aila hissed as the cold nipped at her skin, digging her staff into the ground to give her a little more leverage. Hades laughed, seeming entirely unaffected by the icy wind. "Ah! Love the breeze!"

The Lava Titan erupted, sending magma down the mountain toward them all, and the Tornado Titan angled its perpetually spinning body to add even more wind to the the Ice Titan's onslaught. Before Aila could comprehend what was happening, she felt her fingers slip from her staff, her body blown backwards into the sky as easily as a leaf in a hurricane. She screamed, the boys screaming next to her as all four of them were blown off the cliff and up into the sky.

Aila did her best to stop herself from spinning out of control, every nerve in her body screaming for her to face forward before they hit the ground and presumably all died on impact — no one could survive this! Summoning her lost staff back to herself, she tried casting Anti Gravity on herself and the boys, but she was spinning so much that she couldn't get a good handle on the spell.

"Goooooood ideaaaaa Ailaaaaa!" she heard Donald yell from somewhere to her left. "Caaaaast Antiiiii Gravityyyy!" he called to the others. The four of them did their best, trying to cast the spell on themselves as they hurtled through the air. Their spinning managed to slow, as did their speed, but not by enough — they were still hurtling right toward what seemed to be a city beneath them. They cast another group spell, Aila bracing herself for what was sure to be a bumpy landing — they _might_ have slowed enough to not die, but it was still gonna hurt!

Suddenly something collided with Aila, both Sora and Goofy letting out an "oof!" on either side of her as they, too, hit whatever she had. But they still seemed to be moving? It took Aila a second to realize that someone had caught them, that someone landing a moment later with all three of them clutched like a human bouquet in his muscly arms.

"H-Hercules!" Aila choked out once her brain had managed to process the face before her, her body still slightly in shock from the almost-dying.

"See? Found him," Sora quipped, grinning at Aila and Goofy.

"Yeah, guess this counts," Goofy chuckled.

"Uh, where's…?" Aila began, noticing that a certain feathery companion wasn't in their little human bouquet.

"GET ME DOWN!"

They all glanced up at a lion statue on a platform above them, Donald seeming to have gotten his jacket snagged in the lion's sharp teeth. Well, that had been lucky — it looked like that had completely broken his fall so he didn't face plant into a wall!

"Just a second!" Hercules called, placing the other three down before him.

"WHYDIDN'TYOUCATCHMETOO?!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Hercules apologized, rushing up toward the statue to help free Donald. "I thought I got you all, guess you tumbled through my fingers!"

"We're not gonna hear the end of this for a while," Aila muttered to Sora and Goofy, who nodded in agreement.

"Sorry Donald!" Goofy called.

"You okay?" Sora shouted. Donald screamed something that none of them could make out, but that didn't sound very nice. Sora scratched his cheek and chuckled nervously. "Uhhh… he seems okay?"

Hercules managed to get Donald down and delivered him to the rest of the group, Donald fuming the entire time.

"You guys are here!" Herc breathed, grinning ear to ear. "You literally dropped in! Gotta say, I'm impressed!"

"Uhhh yes, that was definitely all part of a plan," Aila lied, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Liked the catch," Goofy said to Herc, earning him a heated glare from Donald. "Uh, mostly."

"Yeah, thanks Herc," Sora said, smiling gratefully. "But… what's going on…?"

Now that they were firmly back on solid ground, Aila finally took a look at their surroundings and gasped. They were in the middle of a town square, but… everything was in ruins, or on fire. It was like a complete disaster zone! At least she couldn't see any people nearby, so maybe they'd all managed to get away before all this happened…

Herc sighed. "Take a guess. Starts with an H."

"Ah, I get the picture," Sora sighed, crossing his arms. "Actually, we bumped into the H-ster on the way here."

Goofy nodded. "He said somethin' about conquerin' the whole cosmos."

Hercules made a face. "All of it, huh? Nice of him to show a little self-restraint. Well, whatever he's planning, I'll send him running back across the Styx!" Herc put his hands on his hips and grinned determinedly, and Aila was struck by how much more confidence he had now than the first time she'd met him. Guess he wasn't down in the dumps anymore, even with all this destruction going on. That was good.

Sora smiled and put his hands on his hips too. "That's our Herc!"

Hercules dropped his stance and his smile, glaring at the burning buildings around him. "But first, I need to make sure everyone got out of here okay."

"Right, we'll help!" Sora volunteered, the rest of them nodding immediately. Donald seemed to be calming down, his feathers seeming less ruffled as he took in the state of the town around him, seeming to realize there was work to do.

Herc smiled. "Knew I could count on you. Okay, let's get to work."

KHKHKHKH

Okay, confession: I think the writing in this game is the WORST on this world. So I'm taking a few more liberties than usual in these scenes to keep the characters more… consistent? Like, Herc is so chill about the city being ON FIRE in the game and I'm like uh hello are you just gonna stand here having a casual chat all day or what? I dunno these scenes felt off to me in the game. But I tried not to change them too much.

ALSO I know that Sora's wall running isn't Flowmotion in the game, but I needed a reason for him to be able to suddenly do that when all his power has just been supposedly taken away by Xehanort. Like um what? "Sora you're so weak now but also can suddenly scale a vertical mountain in seconds!" And I also needed a way for the group to follow him. So yay everyone can Flowmotion!

Anyway! We have finally begun! This world is basically the tutorial world in the game but I'm gonna try and make it more important to the story. We'll see how I do. Sorry again for the long wait, I swear I'm trying to update faster!

Please leave a review to let me know your thoughts~ I'll see you all next time!

~Fade


	14. Under The Rose

Heyyyy everyone! Sorry for the long wait. Again. I know. I'm doing my best! Life isn't giving me a ton of time to work on this. But this chapter is another long one, almost thirty pages! So hopefully that makes up for the wait a little?

So, as I mentioned before, this is where I start… deviating from the _exact_ KH3 plot a bit and changing things that I feel don't make a lot of sense in the game. I hope you're all cool with that? I mean, if you want the EXACT chain of events you can play the game again lol. I'll try not to stray too far! Hopefully it comes across as me just expanding on the outline the game gave us, like in the last story but… more. Haha~

Hence, alas, more work for me. But I think I'm doing okay so far! I've got the rest of this world outlined, it's just a matter of filling in the gaps with words that don't suck. I think it'll be good! I hope you guys like it.

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate you all more than you know! As long as people are enjoying my story, I'll keep finding whatever time I can to keep writing~

Let's jump into it! Hope you like it!

* * *

" _Cupid bribed Harpocrates, god of silence, with a rose, not to divulge the amours of Venus. Hence a host hung a rose over his tables that his guests might know that under it, words spoken were to remain secret."_

—Gregory Nazianzen " _Carmen Vol II_ "

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Under The Rose**

The city of Thebes was in horrible shape.

Aila and the boys did their best putting out fires around the town's main square and rescuing trapped civilians with Hercules, but it felt like they were barely making a dent in all the destruction. Thankfully, it looked like most people had managed to evacuate before things got really bad, but it was nerve wracking whenever they heard a call for help from somewhere nearby, all of them rushing to figure out where it was coming from and how to get to whoever was in trouble.

On the plus side, Aila was getting a lot of practice in with a new spell Merlin taught her a couple of weeks ago: Water! At the time he'd taught it to her, she had felt like the spell was one she probably wouldn't use very much, unless she was wandering in the desert with Aladdin or something. But now, having been literally thrown into a city on fire, she was _extremely_ grateful to have it in her roster; she made a mental note to thank Merlin for teaching it to her next time she saw him.

She was in the process of dousing a particularly stubborn bit of flaming debris, her lungs working overtime from the adrenaline and heat and stress of the situation, the smoke in the air making her throat feel itchy and dry. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sora emerge from a building he had been checking for civilians. Pieces of his bangs were stuck to his forehead, his shoulders seeming tight as he leaned against the doorway for a moment. He was tired. Aila couldn't really blame him: she was tired, too. But the amount of fatigue radiating from him was… worrying. She couldn't really remember him ever seeming this worn out, even after they'd fought off literally thousands of Heartless at once. She'd thought maybe Yen Sid had been being dramatic about Sora's power being stripped from him, but now… it was looking like maybe it was more serious than she'd realized.

Sora looked up and they locked eyes for a second before he quickly straightened his spine and rushed off to check the next building. Aila frowned and looked back at the smoldering bricks before her, the fire pretty much out at last. If Sora wanted to act normal, she'd let him for now. It wasn't worth pointing out anyway, not when they all already knew what was up. But… she puller her staff in close to her chest and glanced over her shoulder to watch him emerge from the next building he'd checked, his usual confident air back in place. Her fingers tightened a little around her weapon and she mentally counted how many Ethers she should have left in her pouch. Her Light shields were getting stronger every day, but she'd make sure to maintain enough mana to ensure she could cast some good Reflect spells if Sora needed her to.

"Sora, anything?" Herc called, finishing repositioning a damaged pillar on a nearby building to make sure the structure didn't crumble.

"Seems like we're clear!" Sora called back, emerging from the final building in the area.

"Phew," Donald sighed, letting his staff fade and collapsing into a sit on the ground. He and Goofy had been putting out some more fires a bit to Aila's left. They both seemed exhausted.

Herc wiped his brow. "Let's take a second to catch our breath, but then we gotta keep moving. There are more areas we need to check for civilians."

They all agreed, everyone eager to take a breather for at least a few minutes. Aila sipped on an Ether and wandered toward the center of the square, keeping her guard slightly up in case any more Heartless appeared. Thankfully, so far, there had really only been Soldiers and Shadows to deal with. She stopped at the base of a giant statue of Hercules in the center of the square, craning her neck as she looked up at the sculpture of the man standing just a few feet away from her. It was massive. Not as massive as the Zeus statue on the mountain, but still pretty impressive.

"Heh, it's… a little much, right?" Herc said, rubbing the back of his neck a bit sheepishly as he realized what Aila was looking at. "Phil insisted… and the town wanted to make it, so…"

Aila smiled. "I think it's cool! They really love you here, huh?"

Herc smiled and looked away awkwardly. "Hah, yeah, I guess so…" His expression fell and his brows tightened as he looked at the still smoldering remains of the square. "Wish I'd done a better job for them today…" He shook his head and attempted a smile again, changing the subject. "So, is there a reason you guys are visiting? I'm guessing it's not just for the cheese and olives."

Aila smiled at his joke. "Ah, well yeah…" She turned to Sora, wondering if he'd want to answer since he was the whole reason they'd come to this world. He'd taken a seat on the floor with Donald, the two of them resting back to back. Sora was breathing pretty hard, his eyes shut tight as if he were concentrating on each breath, Goofy fanning him with his shield. Aila frowned, concerned again. "Sora?"

Sora's eyes immediately snapped open. "Huh? Yeah?"

"Herc asked why we're here…"

Sora's brows disappeared beneath his bangs and he immediately clamored to his feet. "Oh yeah, right!"

"It sounds like somebody forgot," Goofy said, smirking a little at Sora.

"That's Sora," Donald taunted, not seeming in a huge hurry to stand up himself.

Sora crossed his arms with a huff. "I just… took my time remembering." He smirked at Donald and Goofy and the three of them chuckled together. Aila rolled her eyes, but smiled along with them. He must be okay if he was still joking around.

Sora turned to Herc, his smile fading into a more sincere expression. "Herc, I came here so I could ask you something."

"Huh? Me?" Herc replied, seeming like that wasn't the answer he'd expected.

"Yeah," Sora nodded. "Do you remember the last time we were together? You were feeling… down and out. How'd you get your strength back— when you jumped in and saved Meg?"

Herc put a hand to his chin. "Hmm… that's tough. All I know is that… she was in trouble. Suddenly, I wanted to save her with all my heart, but… it's not like I could tell you how."

Sora's shoulders drooped. "Oh, man…"

Herc quirked a brow. "What's wrong?"

Sora hesitated a moment before lifting his hands and staring at his palms, his face contorted into a frustrated frown. "All my strength is gone from me, too…" Aila was a little surprised to hear him admit it — he'd seemed like he'd been trying to put on a brave face up until now. But, she supposed this _was_ the reason they came here: to get Herc's advice on the whole debacle. So it wouldn't do anyone any good to lie about it. Sora looked up at Herc, his brows knitted together with a deep concern that was unusual to see on him, but a glimmer of his regular underlying determination still remained. "That's why I need you — because I was hoping you might have a solution, or something."

Herc frowned deeply, hesitating as well before finally answering. "I'm sorry, Sora…"

A light sigh escaped everyone in the gang at once. Aila and Goofy shared a worried look. If Herc didn't have a solution, then Sora was kinda stuck… Aila wracked her brain, trying to figure out what Herc had done last time they were here. He'd sacrificed his life to save Meg by jumping into that pool, so _that_ was why his strength came back, right? Because putting her life before his own made him a 'true hero'.

But she couldn't say _that_ out loud — the last thing she wanted was for Sora to try sacrificing himself for anyone. She knew he'd do it in a heartbeat, and not even necessarily to get his strength back, but just because that was who he was; he didn't need another reason to try it. The thought scared her. It was very specific circumstances that had prevented Herc from dying when he dove into that pool, and there was no guarantee Sora would come out on top if he tried to replicate something like that. He might be a little weaker than usual right now, but at least he was alive. She shook her head, doubling her resolve to keep herself sharp on this journey, to pick up any slack so Sora wouldn't have any reason to try something so stupid.

Though, hang on… Aila turned to Herc. "Hey, random question… You're a 'true hero' now, aren't you?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Herc replied.

Aila frowned, looking toward the mountain Hades had blown her and the boys off of. "So you're able to fight like normal, right?"

"Yeah…? Am I missing something here?"

"I think _I'm_ missing something here," Aila mumbled, thoroughly confused. Hades had released the Titans, but… in the movie, he knew that if Hercules fought against the Titans, his plan would fail. In fact, that was the entire PLOT of the movie. So… this timeline was _way_ off. Herc was fine! But Hades didn't even seem worried. Was he planning something else…?

Sora elbowed Aila lightly to get her attention. "You know something?"

Aila scrunched up her face. "Yes…? No? Kinda? I'm so confused. This makes no sense." She shrugged and turned to Hercules. "I mean, we need you to fight the Titans, but I assume you knew that already…?"

Herc nodded. "Right. As soon as I know everyone in Thebes is safely out of the city, that's where I'm headed."

"Right…" Aila replied slowly. There had to be SOME kind of catch she wasn't seeing, right? Hades had been way too confident about his plan on the mountain.

"Is there something else?" Sora probed.

Aila hesitated, but then decided to just tell them what she knew. The timeline was already off anyway, right? "Well—"

"Wak?! HEARTLESS!" Donald shouted, pointing frantically at the sky. Everyone looked up in time to see what at first glance seemed to be a dozen fireballs heading directly toward the square, but when Aila looked harder she saw the distinct bodies of some round, molten Heartless hidden within the flames. Goofy held up his shield and Aila summoned a wide strip of Light to try and protect the group as the Heartless came crashing down, a few of them hitting the statue of Hercules at the center of the square. The statue trembled and then toppled forward, shaking the area with a massive _crash_. An ember landed on Aila's shield and she yelped, feeling a dull sear from the flames deep in her bones. She immediately dismissed her Light and gritted her teeth as she fell into a defensive stance. Okay, her Light shields weren't great against fire, good to know.

"Let's talk later," Herc said, falling into a defensive stance as well.

"Right," Sora agreed. "Once we've dealt with these guys."

The group sprung into action, most of them dodging out of the way to assess these new enemies while Goofy held his ground and pushed back against a couple Heartless with his shield. Looked like his shield didn't conduct heat — nice! Aila rolled away from a stream of fire that the Heartless closest to her was trying to nail her with and stopped in a crouch, studying it as quickly as she could. She'd never seen this type of Heartless before — it looked kind of like a living cauldron with flames burning on its head, and skinny, sharp wings on either side of its body. It floated above the ground, a jagged opening about two thirds up its body (its mouth?) preparing to spit another bout of fire. Its beady yellow eyes just above the mouth locked emotionlessly on to Aila, closely following her every movement.

'Okay, fire, floaty, likes to spit,' Aila listed in her head. 'So the best plan would be…' She waited a beat for an answer she knew wouldn't come from Celina before answering herself. 'Water, probably. Maybe if I put out the flame on its head it'll go down?'

She nodded to herself before replying aloud, "Worth a shot." She cringed a little — if she'd felt like she looked crazy for talking to herself when Celina was around, she probably looked extra crazy now that she was… literally just talking to herself. But whatever! No time for to feel dumb!

The Heartless shot another stream of fire at her and she deftly dodged again before quickly holding up her staff. " _Water_!" she commanded, summoning the spell. Two streams of water encircled her for a quick second before slamming into the Heartless, the fire atop its head hissing as it was doused by Aila's spell. The Heartless let out a scream and hit the floor, writhing as it tried to shake the water away from its dimming flames.

Aila rushed it, hitting it with a few quick slashes before the Heartless managed to rid itself of enough moisture to allow its flames to burst back to full glory. It rose from the ground and charged at Aila, who blocked with her staff. She immediately regretted such a tactic — sweat beaded along her brow from the close proximity of the Heartless, her entire body immediately feeling way too hot. She summoned some Light to her heels and hurried around to the Heartless's opposite side, leaving the Heartless looking confused about where its opponent had just gone. She didn't give it time to solve that mystery, slashing at its back and then casting another Water spell before continuing her assault. This time, the Heartless went down for good, fading into nothing as the flames on its head went out again. Aila wiped her forehead with the back of her arm; these guys were kind of tough. She filed them mentally under the 'Heartless I find annoying' tab in her head.

Aila spotted another Flame Heartless nearby and hurried to attack it, taking quick note of how everyone else was doing. Donald was making good use of his own Water spells (his were much stronger than Aila's — she'd need to ask him to train her a little later), and Goofy's shield gave him a pretty good advantage against these guys. Hercules was just flat out punching enemies in the face, as if the flames didn't even register on his skin. That was impressive. And Sora…

Sora was struggling.

He had his back to a pillar, three Flame Heartless gearing up to attack him all at once. "Deep Freeze!" he shouted, a sheet of ice rising before him just in time to catch three streams of fire aimed at his face. The ice melted immediately and he rubbed his eyes, like maybe he'd accidentally gotten some fragments of ice in them? The Flame Heartless saw an opening, and all three of them charged.

Panicking, Aila abandoned the previous Heartless she'd been going for and summoned Light to her heels, dashing for her friend as quickly as she could. She skidded to a stop between Sora and the Heartless right before they reached him, lifting her staff high above her head. "DEFEND!" she cried, the honeycomb shield of her Reflect spell bursting forth from her and sending the enemies flying back.

She let out a sigh of relief and glanced back at Sora. "You okay?"

Sora blinked at her. "Um, yeah… thanks…" His expression shifted into a frown. "Don't jump into danger for me, though!"

Aila cocked her head, her spell fading around the two of them. "What am I supposed to do, watch you get hurt?"

Sora clicked his tongue and looked past Aila, hefting his Keyblade. "I'll be fine, just worry about yourself, okay?"

"Sora, you said yourself that your strength is gone — you need backup!"

Sora glanced at her, some sort of complicated emotion in his eyes. "I'll be fine. I don't want you in danger."

" _What_ danger? This is nothing compared to some of the bad guys we fought before."

"Yeah I know, but…" Sora threw his Keyblade at the three Heartless, who were making their approach again. It connected and pushed all three of them back once more. Sora looked at Aila. "Things are… different this time!" He caught his Keyblade and pulled Aila to the other side of the pillar, to give them a little more shelter from a majority of the enemies. "And you're right, I'm _not_ fighting as well as I'm used to, so that means I can't cover _you._ So just… stay out of the way, okay? Maybe you should wait somewhere safe."

Aila's jaw dropped. "What, you don't think I can handle a fight without you there to cover me?"

Sora glanced worriedly around the pillar at the enemies. "No, that's not what I'm saying, I just…" He glanced at the pillar, some kind of idea seeming to spark in his mind. He shoved Aila away. "Stand back!"

Aila was too caught off guard to argue for a moment, watching as Sora leapt toward the pillar. The blue light of Flowmotion engulfed him and he used his Keyblade to spin himself around the pillar a few times before leaping toward the three Heartless and slamming them with a boosted hit. That was enough to finish them off, all three fading into nothing as Sora straightened up. He looked back at Aila, breathing hard but smiling with no small amount of satisfaction. "See? I'm good. Just wait there, we'll handle things."

He rushed toward Donald to help with another Heartless, leaving Aila behind. For a few seconds she just felt a little stunned, not really comprehending what had just happened. But then… anger began boiling inside of her, her fists clenching as she let Sora's words sink in. Had he… just… _benched_ her?! For NO reason?! What the _heck_?!

"Uh, yeah right!" Aila scoffed to herself, her pride stinging as she glared after her friend. She zeroed in on the Heartless Sora and Donald were tag teaming and, without even really realizing what she was doing, summoned Light to her heels and charged full speed at the thing, summoning _more_ Light to her staff as she slammed into the enemy with every ounce of power she could muster. The thing went flying, slamming so hard into the arm of the fallen Herc statue that the statue's forearm completely broke off. The Heartless collapsed face first before fading away into nothing.

"Wak! Hey! What was that?!" Donald asked, seeming very taken aback by Aila's sudden usurping of the enemy he'd been working on.

Aila straightened up and glared at Sora, feeling her eyes flash with her anger. "Why don't _you_ sit out and let _us_ handle things."

Sora blinked, but then narrowed his eyes. "I don't need to sit out."

"Me neither!"

Donald frowned as he looked back and forth between the two teens. "Uh, did I miss something…?"

Aila huffed. "Just Sora being an idiot."

Sora's fingers clenched. "Hey! I am not being an idiot, I'm just trying to keep you safe!"

"I don't need you babying me!" Aila snapped. "You've been weird ever since we got here! I'm not some helpless little girl, I know how to fight! I'm a part of this team!" She looked away, her voice softening as her anger ebbed a little into hurt. "At least I thought I was…"

Herc and Goofy joined them, the duo having been able to take out the rest of the Heartless together. "Gwarsh, what happened?" Goofy asked, looking very confused by the sudden arguing.

Donald shook his head. "Beats me. They just started fighting."

Sora seemed conflicted as he dismissed his Keyblade, looking away as well. "…Aila, of course you're a part of the team. I just…"

"Hercules!"

The group looked up into the sky to see Pegasus flying toward them, Meg and Phil riding on his back. Pegasus touched down and Meg immediately dismounted, rushing toward Herc. "You're okay!"

"Meg!" Herc breathed in reply.

Meg glanced around at the square. "Boy, that didn't look so fun…"

Herc sighed. "No, not with the Heartless involved. We're just lucky our friends showed up." He nodded toward the gang, who all seemed a little awkward about the tension between Sora and Aila.

Meg smiled at them. "Well, whaddaya know? Sora, Donald, Goofy, Aila, guess I owe you a big thank you."

"Uh, yeah, no problem," Sora mumbled, seeming to have taken a very deliberate interest in the fallen Herc statue. Aila herself was intensely focused on adjusting her gloves.

Meg quirked a brow. "Gee, you kids are tense…"

"'Course they are, the city's burnin' to the ground!" Phil said, still struggling to dismount Pegasus. Pegasus bucked lightly and Phil went tumbling to the ground in a groaning heap. He glared at Pegasus. Pegasus snickered. Phil pushed himself up and marched over to the group, looking more than a little ticked off. "What are you idiots doin' wastin' time over here?! We just did a search of the city, there's people that need help! Aren't you done clearin' this area yet?!" He cleared his throat heavily. "Whoa, thought I was gonna lose my voice for a second there. See what happens when I have to yell at you?!"

Herc held up his hands defensively. "Yeah, we cleared it, but some Heartless appeared and—"

"And nothin'!" Phil interrupted. "Who cares about the Heartless in some empty part of town? Get your butt in gear and save people! Do you know how bad it'll look to have civilian deaths on your record?!"

"Well it would be bad to let people die _regardless_ of it being on my record, right?" Herc pointed out, raising a brow at Phil.

Phil ignored him, pointing at the gang. "And you four! You wanna be heroes, don't you?"

Goofy put a finger to his chin. "I thought we _were_ heroes."

"No you ain't, not in my book!" Phil insisted. "If you wanna earn that title, you better stop messin' around!"

"We're not messing around!" Donald argued, glaring at the goat man.

"Then prove it! Come on, we got work to do!"

"Sorry about your statue, Wonderboy," Meg said, gesturing to the rubble before them all.

Herc smiled lightly. "It's just a statue. Phil's right, we need to make sure no people end up like that thing."

"Yeah, 'Phil's right,' now that's what I like to hear," Phil huffed. "Okay listen up, there's people in trouble all over the city. If we try to get to one at a time, we might not save 'em all."

Herc nodded. "Right, so we should split up."

Phil grinned. "That's right! Divide and conquer!" He pointed at the gang again. "You guys take the east side of the city, we'll take the west. We can regroup once our sections are cleared."

"Sounds good to me," Herc agreed. He turned to the gang. "You guys good with that?"

Sora opened his mouth to reply but Aila beat him to it. "Yeah, we're on it," she replied tersely, immediately turning on her heel and heading toward the east end of the city. She was still pissed, but people were in trouble — her fight with Sora would have to wait. "Are you guys coming or what?!"

"Yeesh, what'd you guys do this time?" she heard Meg mutter to the boys. That's right — Aila had been pissed at the boys last time they were here too, hadn't she? Maybe this world was bad luck.

The boys caught up to Aila as she ascended some stairs, skirting around a large pile of rubble that had fallen along the stairs' left side. "Uh, maybe we should stop for a second and talk," Goofy suggested, trying to play mediator.

"No," Aila replied through clenched teeth. "You heard Phil, people are in trouble. We can talk later." She shot a cold look at Sora. "As long as our _team leader_ is okay with that."

Sora looked a little hurt by her tone. "Uh, yeah, of course, people in trouble come first…" He hesitated and then placed a hand on her shoulder. "But listen, I didn't mean to make you feel like—"

Aila shook his hand away and picked up her pace, placing distance between the two of them. "We _just agreed_ there's no time for talking now. Let's just go."

"What _did_ you do?" Donald asked Sora, seeming more and more confused by the conflict his friends were having. Sora just sighed heavily in reply.

The gang hurried into the next area, where they quickly located a young mother and child cornered by a gaggle of Soldier Heartless. Aila silently rejoiced at the appearance of such easy enemies, enemies she could beat with just her own brute strength and no fancy tricks. Hitting something with all her might felt _really_ amazing right now.

She silently seethed as she whaled on Heartless after Heartless, hitting even harder any time she happened to catch Sora's eye. How could he think she couldn't handle herself?! She'd been worried about that on their last journey… but now? Really?! SHE had just saved HIM from the bad guys! He was the one who got captured by Xehanort, and Aila held her own pretty well with Riku while they went after him. And she, Donald, and Goofy had done just fine on the last world without Sora there at all!

Her staff slammed into a Soldier's stomach with a satisfying crunch, the Heartless tumbling into a nearby wall before fading into nothing. She glanced Sora's way again and felt a twinge of cruel satisfaction at how hard he was breathing from just a few stupid Soldiers, while she was feeling just fine. She frowned and shook her head lightly, catching herself. She was mad at him, but she still shouldn't feel happy that he was struggling. 'I could probably beat him up right now if I wanted to though,' she thought despite herself. She quickly took out another Soldier to drive away such petty thoughts.

It became quickly apparent, as they made their way through the city, that there were way more people in trouble than they'd initially realized. The gang worked as quickly as possible, taking out Heartless and climbing through rubble, leading citizens to safety before hurrying back to continue forward.

"I think I hear someone over here," Sora said, starting to the left around the remains of a fallen building.

Goofy lifted his right ear. "Hang on, I hear somebody over there, too," he said, indicating the opposite direction.

Aila frowned. "Should we split up?"

"Well we can't just leave one," Donald agreed. He started off to the right, gesturing for Aila to follow him. "Aila, you and me this way."

Sora took a step toward them. "What?! But…" He glanced at Aila, fear in his eyes, before focusing on Donald again. "Maybe we can get to them both as a group."

Donald stood his ground. "We can't risk that. The Heartless we've been running into aren't that strong anyway, and both Aila and Goofy are good with defense, so having one of them near any civilians should be enough." When Sora didn't answer, Donald began tapping a foot impatiently. "We don't really have time to discuss this, Sora!"

Aila crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Don't tell me, you're worried I can't take care of myself without you around?" Sora looked at her again and hesitated. Aila scoffed. "Seriously?! You do think that!"

"No!" Sora finally replied, holding up his hands. He looked away nervously. "…I mean, well…"

Aila kicked a small piece of rubble at his knees, the boy dodging out of the way just in time. "You guys say I suck at lying but you suck too!" She turned and began marching to the right. "Come on Donald, let's go!"

"Aila, hang on!" Sora called.

"People are _literally dying_ Sora, we don't have time for this! Just go!"

She heard Sora grumble something before conceding and hurrying off the other way with Goofy, finally leaving her and Donald to themselves.

"Stupid dumb idiot boy," Aila muttered as she continued to stomp around piles of rubble, scanning for anyone in danger.

Donald caught up to her and began searching for civilians as well. "What happened during that fight? You guys were fine one second and the next you were arguing!"

Aila clicked her tongue, annoyed. "Sora was overwhelmed, so I ran in to help him out. Then he got all mad at me and told me to sit out, because you guys could handle the fighting without me."

Donald squawked in surprise. "Wait, what? Why would he want you to sit out? Did you get hurt?"

"No!" Aila insisted. "I didn't even get hit!" She looked at Donald imploringly. "Hasn't he been acting weird since we got here? He totally tried to take all my bad guys on the mountain, too."

Donald hummed as he peaked through a half-collapsed doorway. "He has seemed a little on edge… I think he's feeling insecure about what Master Yen Sid said, about Xehanort taking his power away. So maybe he's taking that out on you for some reason?"

"Yeah that's what I thought too," Aila grumbled as she climbed up a small pile of rubble to check the other side. "But why just me? He hasn't seemed weird with you or Goofy." She stopped at the top of the pile and looked out into the city, her anger melting into something a bit more sad. "Maybe he's always thought I was weak and just hid it better until now…"

"No way, that's not it," Donald said firmly. "He knows how strong you are, Aila. You're an important part of our team — we need you! We're all happy you're here." He waved a hand dismissively. "If he tells you to sit out again, just ignore him."

Aila smirked down at the duck. "That's what I did the first time."

Donald smirked back. "Good."

"…elp…!"

Aila froze, leaning forward a little. "Did you hear that?"

Donald nodded, leaning forward as well, straining his ears. "Yeah."

Aila put her hands around her mouth and yelled as loud as she could, "ANYBODY THERE? WE'RE HERE TO HELP YOU!"

"…elp! W… in here!"

"This way!" Aila said breathlessly, she and Donald booking it toward a building thats doorway was almost entirely blocked by fallen debris. Aila tried moving a few large pieces of concrete, but they wouldn't budge much for her. She found a small opening and peered inside, searching for anyone in trouble. A preteen boy was standing in front of a little girl (they looked like siblings), both of them backed into a corner by a handful of Soldiers. The boy was wielding a broken piece of wood as his only weapon, his brown, curly hair matted with sweat and dust. The little girl had her hands over her mouth, like she was trying her best not to scream, her brunette curls falling out of an updo someone must have lovingly done for her earlier that day, before the city had fallen. The boy's limbs were shaking with fear, but he held his ground between the monsters and the girl anyway.

A Soldier took a step toward the kids. "HEY!" Aila shouted, getting the Heartless's attention. The Soldiers turned to look at her, their yellow eyes hollow and unfeeling. "Don't take another step!"

The Soldiers seemed unperturbed by her, merely blinking before turning their backs to Aila and beginning to close in on the kids. The little girl whimpered, and the boy's eyes widened in terror as he shakily hefted his piece of wood.

Aila pulled away from the small opening and turned to Donald in a panic. "We need to get in there _right now_!"

Donald summoned his staff and pointed it at the door. "Will anyone get hurt if I blast this?"

Aila pulled him to the right a few steps. "Angle this way. But just in case…" She rushed to the opening again. "Hey, kids, hide your faces!"

The girl obediently curled into a ball in the corner, hiding her face in her arms, and the boy threw himself on top of her, burying his face in her hair as he attempted to shield her.

Aila pulled away and nodded to Donald. "Do it!"

"FIRE!" Donald shouted, a powerful fireball slamming into the rubble blocking the door. It exploded into the room, Aila and Donald both pulling back to avoid breathing in any dust before rushing through the still-settling cloud, Aila summoning her staff and making a beeline for the Soldier closest to the kids. The Heartless seemed startled by the explosion, all of them halting their approach and turning toward their new attackers. But Aila and Donald wasted no time, slamming the Heartless with rapid hits and well aimed Blizzard spells.

Aila knocked the closest Soldiers away from the kids and lifted her staff. "Thunder!" she cried, lightning bolts raining down from the ceiling and striking three Heartless all at once, their metal helmets conducting the electricity and amplifying the hit. She knocked one of them into a Soldier Donald had frozen nearly solid, both enemies fading as Aila made quick work of their two comrades, landing a couple diagonal slashes while they were still buzzing from her lightning strike. It only took a minute or two to get them all, only the heavy breathing of Aila, Donald, and the two kids filling the room as the final Soldier faded away.

Aila straightened up and turned to the kids, brows knitted with worry. "Are you both okay?"

They looked up at her and shakily nodded, their big brown eyes wide with adrenaline and relief. "Th-thank you so much," the boy croaked out, his voice wavering as he tried to keep his emotions reigned in. He couldn't have been more than eleven — his sister looked to be around six.

Aila approached them and knelt down, dismissing her weapon to try and look as unthreatening as possible. "That's good. Is anyone else in here?"

The little girl shook her head, tear tracks cutting through a layer of dust on her cheeks. "M-Mama and Papa went to the market, a-and th-then there were a bunch of b-b-big booms a-and th-then…"

The boy pulled the girl into a hug and stroked her hair, trying to comfort her as he continued for her, "The door… we couldn't get out. We thought maybe we could just wait in here but then those things showed up…" He looked down and sniffled a little, clearing his throat before looking up at Aila again and whispering, "Did you get them all?"

Aila nodded. "Yeah, don't worry, they're gone now."

Donald joined her and smiled at the kids. "Why don't we find your parents, okay?" He held out a hand to the boy. "I'm Donald, what's your name?"

"T-Talos," the boy replied, taking Donald's hand. He nodded to the girl. "This is my sister Leta."

Donald smiled reassuringly. "Nice to meet you, Talos and Leta! This is my friend Aila." Aila waved as Donald continued, "We're heroes!" Aila sweatdropped. Not really pertinent information, but okay.

Leta's eyes widened a little. "L-like H-Hercules?"

"Yup!" Donald replied. "He's a good friend of ours!"

The kids _immediately_ seemed to forget their fear at that, Donald pulling Talos to his feet while Leta gripped her brother's free hand and stood as well. "Wow!" Talos gushed. "Really?! You know Hercules?! I have his action figure! Do you guys have action figures?!"

"Uhh," Donald replied, his bravado falling a little. "Well… no?" He gave Aila a look. "We should get some action figures made of us, too."

Aila chuckled and shook her head as she stood. "Right, priorities, though. Let's save the city first."

Donald sighed. "Fiiiine." He smiled at the kids again. "Come on, let's go! Don't worry about any monsters, you're safe with us!"

The kids followed Donald out of the room while Aila hung back to do a quick sweep, just to be really sure they hadn't missed anyone else. She realized now that this was decorated like some sort of living room, chairs strewn in pieces across the floor, a table half smashed in the middle. She frowned — this was Talos and Leta's home, and it was totally destroyed. At least they hadn't been hurt. She hoped their parents had avoided any injury too.

Aila exited the house and did another quick scan of the area. No more Heartless — that probably meant no more people to save. Heartless would congregate around hearts, after all. Donald was rounding a corner with the two kids, talking amicably about all the times he'd fought alongside Hercules and earning more and more admiration from Talos and Leta. Aila smirked. Even when he was doing something very good, Donald couldn't help but want a little ego boost.

She took a step to follow them, but stopped at the sound of a familiar voice behind her. "Aila!"

She turned around to see Sora running up to her, the boy slowing as he approached. She quirked a brow. "You guys are done already? That was fast." She glanced past Sora and her other brow rose to join her first. "Where's Goofy?"

"Oh, he's, uh, on his way," Sora said, seeming a little caught off guard by the question. He looked… nervous?

Aila frowned and turned away, starting off after Donald and the kids once again. "Donald is leading some kids we found to safety, we should catch up."

"Uh, wait!"

Sora grabbed Aila's wrist and pulled her to a stop, his grip unusually tight. Aila glared lightly as she looked back at him. "Sora, I don't wanna talk right now. We need to make sure everyone is safe first, then we can unpause our fight."

Sora cocked his head. "We were fighting?"

Aila narrowed her eyes. "Ha ha, very funny." She tried to pull her arm away, but he held fast. "Can you let go? We need to catch up to Donald."

Sora smiled a little awkwardly. "Um, right! Well, hang on. I mean, I knew we were fighting, of course! So before we catch up to Donald, I, um, I wanted to give you a, uhhhhh… A peace offering! Yeah, that's it!"

"A… peace offering?" Aila repeated. Something deep in her gut was starting to churn uncomfortably, like something was a little… off. It was only now that Aila realized Sora seemed to be holding something behind his back with his free hand. So he really did bring some sort of peace offering?

"Yeah!" Sora replied excitedly. He brought his free hand out into the open. "Tada~!" A single white rose was grasped in his fingers, its petals so crisp and perfect that the sight of it momentarily took Aila's breath away. "Isn't it nice? I, um, I saw it and I thought of you!"

Aila stared at the rose, not sure how to respond for a few moments. "Where… where'd you find this? Everything is all, like… on fire and broken, but you found a rose?"

"Yeah, crazy, right?!" Sora gushed with almost too much enthusiasm, his grip still very tight around Aila's wrist. "It was like all this crazy destruction just, like, totally avoided crushing this pretty flower! And I thought that was like, wow! And so I wanted to show you!"

Aila blinked slowly at Sora, that churning in her gut getting a little stronger. "That's… nice?" She tried to pull her arm away again, but again Sora didn't release her. "Sora, seriously, can you let go…?"

"Hang on, you gotta smell this flower first," Sora insisted, taking a step closer and pushing the rose toward Aila's face.

Aila instinctively leaned back, alarm bells starting to go off in her head as Sora's grip tightened even more. "Sora, let go," she whispered, her voice much smaller than it had been a second ago.

"I will once you smell this," Sora insisted, closing the gap between them again. His smile suddenly didn't reach his eyes. "Come on, don't you trust me? I'm your friend!"

Cold fear clenched its claws around Aila's spine, something in Sora's eyes seeming very, very off. What was going on? Why was he being so pushy? His grip on her arm was _really_ starting to hurt now.

Before Aila could think of a response, Sora had practically shoved the rose right against her face, its perfect petals tickling her nose. Surprised, she breathed in, a scent that was sweet and crisp and light filling her and catching her full attention. It was like a perfect, dewy rain mixed with berries and the air over a sun-kissed meadow, so alluring and perfect that Aila couldn't help but breath it in even more. She closed her eyes, feeling the scent envelope her completely, her body relaxing as it encircled her…

And then the air changed. The scent, so light and beautiful just a moment before, was suddenly as heavy and dense as a thick, choking cloud of smoke, filling Aila's lungs and stinging her throat like it was coated in still-burning embers. Her eyes shot open just in time to see the once white rose dissolving into blood red smoke, the smoke escaping through Sora's fingers and wrapping quickly around Aila's neck.

She yelped and tried to jerk away, but Sora's grip, now definitely painful, held her in place, preventing her from running from the smoke encircling her throat like a hungry snake. The smoke suddenly tightened into something solid, sharp points jabbing into Aila's soft skin. Aila gasped, but no sound escaped her this time as she used her free hand to grab at the solidified smoke, only to once again soundlessly yelp as her fingers were pricked by a plethora of sharp pieces that had apparently taken shape there. Her eyes widened as she pulled her hand away, watching pinpricks of blood begin to spill out of her fingertips where the smoke had pricked her.

"Hey, it looks good on you," Sora said, and it took Aila's brain a good few seconds to comprehend that he was still standing there, his smile now most definitely having morphed into something very unkind. His hardened eyes glistened mirthfully. "Now none of us will have to listen to you anymore!"

Aila tried to reply with a very baffled and hurt "what…?" but as soon as the word attempted to form in her throat, the smoke tightened again, its points stabbing into her painfully. She screamed, but, once again, no sound escaped her. Her eyes widened as realization dawned on her and she attempted to scream again. Nothing. Silence. Not even the hint of her voice remained.

"Ailaaa!" Donald called, and then a few moments later he was stomping back into the area, looking a little ticked off. "What happened to you?! I thought you were following us! You're lucky no more Heartless showed up, I woulda had to defend those kids myself! Their parents were looking for them so we found them fast, no thanks to you…" His anger ebbed and he blinked as he took in the sight before him. "Uh, what's goin' on here? Sora, shouldn't you be with Goofy?"

Aila turned to Donald and attempted to run toward him, but Sora just jerked her back, still grinning that unkind grin. " _Donald!_ " Aila tried to shout, but immediately the smoke tightened around her throat again, piercing her skin and sending her buckling into a silent scream. Hot liquid began to drip down Aila's collarbone, a few drops of red falling to the ground.

"Hey!" Donald cried, sounding immediately distraught as he rushed forward. "Aila, what's wrong?!" He reached her and placed a hand on her neck, immediately pulling his fingers away to reveal the feathers covered in blood. "What are these thorns…?!" He looked up at Sora, his eyes darting between the boy's grip on Aila's arm and the cold look in his eyes. "Sora…? Sora, let go! What happened? Why aren't you helping her?"

Sora lifted his free hand in a nonchalant shrug. "Eh, I don't wanna."

Donald's jaw dropped. "What?! What're you… What's the matter with you?!"

"Me? What's the matter with you?" He leaned forward, his grin practically splitting his face. "You loudmouth duck, always going on and on and on. We should find another rose for you! I would _love_ not to hear your voice ever again!"

Donald's shock morphed into anger, his feathers ruffling as he summoned his staff. "You little…!" He took a swing at Sora but Sora leapt away, finally releasing Aila as he cackled in a very un-Sora-like fashion.

"Missed me!" he sneered, blowing a raspberry at Donald.

Donald let out an angry scream and lifted his staff to the sky. "THUNDER!"

Sora looked up, his eyes going wide as a massive lightning bolt formed above his head. He yelped and attempted to dodge, but it was as if his upper and lower halves tried to go in two different directions, his torso and head jolting right while his legs went left. The lightning struck his middle, and Aila let out another silent scream as it seemed to slice him right in half. Donald screamed too, stumbling back in shock as Sora's two halves began to shift and change. His lower half morphed into a small, skinny blue demon, and his upper half morphed into a pudgy pinkish purple demon.

"Pain and Panic?!" Donald gasped, looking entirely flabbergasted now (and maybe slightly traumatized). Aila's jaw was completely slack, her brain feeling like it had just short circuited. So… that _hadn't_ been Sora at all?! That was both relieving and deeply upsetting… They'd looked JUST like him! Except with no kindness in his eyes…

"Tadaaaa!" the two demons cheered, posing like they'd just dismounted at a gymnastics competition.

"Good show, boys!"

Aila and Donald both immediately turned to their right to see Hades leaning against a half crumbled pillar, a chilling smirk pulling at his blue lips. His grin widened as he caught Aila's eye. "You made that _way_ too easy, kid!"

Donald shook himself out of his stupor and fell into a defensive stance, holding his staff up threateningly. "What'd you do?!"

Hades pushed himself off the pillar. "Yeesh, so hostile! And when I'm in such a generous mood! I just had my minions here give my favorite little _Spirit_ girl a gift. Do you like it?"

Aila attempted to pull the choker of thorns (apparently that was what the smoke had turned into, no longer a beautiful rose…) off of her neck, ignoring the sting in her fingers as she pulled. But it wouldn't budge.

"Take it back, now!" Donald demanded angrily.

"No can do, my feathery compadre," Hades replied cheekily. "Y'see, a very helpful fellow in a black coat just paid me a visit. And _he says_ that our little light bringer over here has a nasty habit of running her mouth and ruining hard working villains' best laid plans. Not that I see you as much of a threat, angel face, but hey, I happened to be rounding up all the gods at the time and wouldn't you know it, Harpocrates had one of his handy little roses right there with him. You know Harpocrates? God of silence, secrets, confidentiality — a real bore at parties. Well, I asked if he would mind if I borrowed one of his favorite toys and, well, seeing how he was my prisoner he so graciously said…! Well he said nothing, but I took it as a yes. So now, Celina, it's all yours!"

Donald cast Aila a very worried glance before returning his attention to Hades. "What's it do…?"

Hades put a finger to his lips. "Keeps her silent. If she tries to say anything, that little fashion statement will tighten, until she learns not to try talking at all. Hey, I just gave you the gift of a silent teenager. You're welcome!" Aila gritted her teeth and glared, but that only seemed to make Hades happier. "Ooh, somebody's angry. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll learn to love your new accessory. Harpocrates is the only being capable of removing it, and I don't plan on letting him go any time soon, so you'd might as well get used to it."

"It was my idea to pretend to be Sora!" Pain said proudly, puffing out his pudgy magenta chest.

Panic snickered. "That was so fun, watching you feel all betrayed, ha ha!"

Pain put a hand to his forehead dramatically. "Why is my bestest best friend hurting me? Oh, the humanity!" He and Panic collapsed into a fit of snorts and chortles.

"Yes, yes, nice touch you two," Hades praised. "I wasn't sure if the theatrics were necessary, but hey, it _was_ fun." He lifted his hands and blue flames burst to life beneath his feet, casting eerie shadows on his face. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a universe to conquer!" He vanished into a puff of smoke, Pain and Panic just barely making it to his flames in time to hitch a ride.

Donald let out a frustrated yell before turning to Aila, his ruffled feathers calming a bit. "Aila…"

Aila was still pulling at the thorns, feeling more and more desperate to get them off. She attempted to scream again, but again was only met with silence. She could feel hot panic beginning to bubble up within her.

"Aila, stop it!" Donald grabbed at her hands and forced them away from her neck. "You're hurting yourself!"

Aila breathed hard and fast as she looked at her somewhat shredded fingers, her skin stained red as blood dripped down over her gloves.

Donald lifted his staff. "Heal," he breathed, green light engulfing Aila and knitting her injuries shut. The old blood remained, but at least her wounds were closed. She bowed her head and let out a silent sigh, feeling a couple of thorns press into her neck with the movement.

"Let's find the others," Donald said, taking her hand in his. He smiled tightly. "Don't worry! You'll be okay! I'm sure Sora will know what to do."

Aila hesitated, but then nodded and allowed Donald to lead her back the way they'd come.

It didn't take them long to find Sora and Goofy, the two of them walking slowly through a ruined garden area back toward the spot they'd split from their team, seeming to be having a deep conversation. Goofy was patting Sora's shoulder supportively, Sora seeming a bit dejected.

"Sora!" Donald called immediately, the slight panic in his voice catching Sora and Goofy's attention at once.

Goofy waved. "Heya, fellas!" When neither Donald nor Aila smiled, his smile fell as well. "Everythin' okay?"

Donald pulled Aila forward quickly, Aila focusing solely on her breathing and blinking back any moisture pricking her eyes. "No! Everything's not okay! We have a big problem!"

There was still a significant gap between the two groups when Sora seemed to notice the blood drying on Aila's neck and fingertips. His eyes widened. "Aila?!" he gasped, immediately breaking into a run and rushing to close the gap between them.

Fear spiked inside Aila and she instinctively pulled away from Donald, stumbling back a few steps as Sora approached. Sora skidded to a stop, seeming confused by the reaction. Aila took a few deep breaths, forcing herself to look at Sora's face. This… _was_ really Sora this time, right?

"Aila, what's wrong?" Sora asked, taking another step forward and reaching out for her.

" _Don't!_ " Aila tried to shout, only for the thorns around her neck to tighten once again, piercing her skin with fresh wounds. She opened her mouth in an invisible scream and fell to her knees, frustrated and angry and scared.

"Aila!" the boys all shouted at once. Sora attempted to rush to her again, but this time Donald stepped into his path.

"Hang on!" Donald shouted harshly. He pointed at Sora. "Prove you're really Sora!"

Sora drew back, confused. "Huh? Donald, of course it's me!"

Donald shook his head. "Prove it, right now!"

Sora shared a baffled look with Goofy before looking back at Donald. "Um… how?"

"Gwarsh, maybe you could say somethin' only you would know," Goofy suggested.

Sora frowned. "But if only I know it, then how would you know if I'm lying?"

Aila tugged at Donald's jacket and he turned to her, his eyes filled with worry. Aila held out her hand and closed her fist, like Sora did when he was summoning his Keyblade.

Donald's eyes widened in recognition and he nodded, turning back to Sora. "Right! Summon your Keyblade! Only the real you would be able to do that."

Sora was still obviously confused, but he held out his hand and summoned his Keyblade anyway, the metal wrapping dutifully around his hand in a display of warm light. The fear in Aila's heart lessened slightly. This was Sora. The real Sora. She swallowed rather painfully, the thorns on her throat still angry and tight. Even with the confirmation of the Keyblade, she couldn't shake her apprehension completely.

Donald, however, seemed completely appeased. "Thank goodness," he sighed, allowing his stance to relax.

Sora dismissed his Keyblade. "What is going on?" he asked, his words holding a pleading edge.

Donald huffed, his feathers ruffling as his anger returned to him. "It was Hades! He had Pain and Panic disguise themselves as you, and they tricked Aila into accepting some kind of… rose gift? I don't know! I was helping some kids out and by the time I came back to Aila, this had happened," he said, gesturing to the necklace of thorns. Aila glared down at the ground.

She heard the sound of approaching footsteps and held her breath as Sora finally closed the gap, the boy kneeling before her and gingerly lifting his fingers to her neck. She immediately jerked away, resisting the urge to stand and run.

Sora immediately pulled his hand away. "They looked like me…?" he breathed, sounding baffled and unsettled. He placed his hands flat on the ground and leaned in a little. "Aila, you know I'd never hurt you, right?" Aila forced herself to look at Sora, to look into his eyes, which were filled with warmth and sincerity — nothing like his doppleganger's had been. She felt tears prick at her eyes again, and Sora's brow knitted even tighter. "Right…?"

"She can't answer you," Donald said, he and Goofy joining the teens. "That thing keeps her from talking. It hurts her more if she tries."

Sora glanced at Donald and then looked back at Aila, a new emotion in his eyes — guilt, maybe? He suddenly stood and summoned his Keyblade, startling the other three.

"What're ya doin'?" Goofy asked.

"Maybe I can get it off," Sora breathed, his eyes locked on the thorns around Aila's neck. "The Keyblade can unlock anything, right?"

"Hades said only Harpocrates can take it off," Donald disagreed, shaking his head.

"Hades is a liar, we can't trust what he says!" Sora argued. He looked at Aila imploringly. "Can I try to unlock it?"

Aila hesitated, but then nodded slowly. This was the real Sora. Only the real Sora could use the Keyblade. He wouldn't hurt her, just like he said. She lifted her chin and shut her eyes as Sora gripped the Keyblade in both hands, very gently placing its tip against the thorns on Aila's neck. Sora exhaled slowly, concentrating hard. "Light," he breathed, and Aila felt a warmth begin to radiate from the place the Keyblade was touching.

It only took a second for the warmth to become a searing heat, expanding into all the thorns like fire. There was a loud crack and Aila was thrown backwards, tumbling to a stop on the singed grass of the garden. She heard Sora yelp in surprise as he stumbled back, the heat around Aila's throat still pulsating angrily as she instinctively curled into a ball, as if she might be able to hide from the pain. Her mouth opened for a scream that wouldn't come, tears finally escaping their prison and rolling down into the grass below.

Donald and Goofy were by her side in a second, green light engulfing Aila from another one of Donald's spells and finally cooling the fire on her neck. Her muscles relaxed and her breathing evened out, Donald's hand on her shoulder and Goofy's on her head, the two doing their best to calm their injured friend.

Aila heard the grass shift before her and peaked up to see Sora on his knees, his expression strained. "I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he breathed, reaching out for Aila but then seeming to think better of it and pulling his hand away. He held her gaze for a moment before letting his head fall, his shoulders hunching forward. "I'm not even strong enough for this…"

"It might not be you, Sora," Goofy tried to assure quietly. "Maybe a Keyblade just can't unlock it."

"Yeah, Hades _said_ only Harpocrates could," Donald breathed.

Sora's fingers clenched. "Yeah. Or maybe it's me." He lifted his gaze to meet Aila's again. "I'm… Aila, I'm…" His eyes became glassy and he looked away.

Taking a deep breath, Aila shakily pushed herself to her knees and reached out to grasp the edge of Sora's jacket, trying to let him know that she knew it had been an accident.

Sora looked at her again, a few tears starting to fall from his lashes. "I just said I wouldn't hurt you and then I did. And earlier, I… I didn't mean to make you feel like you weren't part of the team, I really didn't. I just… I can't stop seeing you hurt and I… I'm so sorry, Aila, I'm really, really sorry."

Aila hesitated, wrestling with the conflicting feelings of distrust and hurt and frustration left over from earlier and her deep, unwavering faith in the boy before her. She knew he would never hurt her on purpose — he was an idiot sometimes, but never vicious or cruel. She leaned her head into his chest, the only thing the should think of to convey that she didn't want him to cry. No matter how angry she had been with him earlier, she didn't want to see him this sad. She felt extremely frustrated — she'd been so adamant about Sora not needing to baby her, and then she let herself get tricked into a trap. Maybe he was right. Maybe she didn't belong here…

Sora held his breath for a moment and then wrapped his arms very gently around her, Aila trying very hard not to flinch. She closed her eyes and felt his heart beating beneath his shirt, fast and frantic, so she leaned into him a little more, hoping to calm it down. All her panic from before seemed to evaporate, her breathing slowing as she reminded herself of whose arms were around her — the arms of one of the best friends she'd ever had, someone she'd literally been to hell and back with. She trusted him completely. He wouldn't hurt her. How dare Hades try and make her forget that. His arms relaxed around her, like he had felt her apprehension leave her, and his heartbeat finally began to calm.

"Aw, how touching."

Aila's blood froze. She and Sora immediately broke their hug to find the source of the new voice, a voice they recognized all too well.

Xigbar stalked out of a dark corridor with a smirk plastered to his face, his yellow eye glinting mirthfully. "Stop it, you're giving me cavities."

"Go away!" Donald shouted. Sora immediately scrambled to his feet and leapt in front of Aila, summoning his Keyblade and falling into a defensive stance.

Xigbar stopped walking, but his smirk only seemed to deepen. "Ooh, scary. You really think you can take me, kid? I can tell you're not exactly up to snuff at the moment. So then, does having a heart of light come with an extremely good insurance policy?"

Sora's shoulders tensed, but he held his stance. "Just say what you mean!"

Aila slowly stood behind Sora, eying Xigbar very warily. Her fingers twitched, ready to create a shield if the Nobody made a wrong move.

"Oh, but I did, though," Xigbar chuckled. He locked eyes with Aila, grinning even more. "Hey there! Looks like you got your present!"

Donald squawked angrily. "So it was you who told Hades to keep Aila quiet!"

"Well sure," Xigbar scoffed. "Now that I know she's got extra info, it only seems fair to keep the field level, right?"

"Aila doesn't know anything anymore," Sora said fiercely. "Everything she knew stopped after we beat Xemnas." Aila glanced at Sora. He wasn't _lying_ really, but he definitely knew she DID know more about this world than she'd shared with them all so far. But it was probably a good idea to make the Organization think she was in the dark again.

Xigbar crossed his arms. "Is that so?" His smile didn't fall as he met Aila's gaze again. "Well, better safe than sorry, right sweetheart?" He shrugged and turned away. "Who knows, maybe you'll thank me someday! They say silence is golden, after all. I'm sure you'll get used to it eventually."

Aila's heart stuttered anxiously. Hades had taunted her about this thing being permanent too. She wouldn't have it on forever… right?! The idea of never being able to speak again… of her life being filled with so much silence… She swallowed with much difficulty, feeling every thorn pressing against her skin as she attempted to keep a straight face.

Xigbar chuckled. "I can hear your heart racing, kid. I know you're terrified. What's wrong, afraid of a little quiet…?"

"Now that's enough," Goofy said, glaring deeply at the Nobody.

Xigbar turned to face them all fully again. "As if! I'm just starting to have some fun! And this is only the beginning."

"Leave Aila alone," Sora growled.

"Or what?" Xigbar taunted. "You'll kill me again? I seriously doubt you could even land a hit anymore. Once such a mighty Keyblader! Now just a stupid kid. _Hero_ to _zero_ , just like that." He snapped his fingers, clearly enjoying every second of this.

Sora didn't budge. "I don't care how little power I have. I'll still protect my friends."

"And that's your whole problem," Xigbar scoffed. "No good will ever come from putting other people first."

"You're wrong!" Donald shouted.

"Yeah, Herc saved Meg because he put her first!" Goofy agreed.

Xigbar rolled his eyes. "No, he saved her because he's got friends in high places. Tricks like that don't fly for your average joe."

"What do you know! You weren't even there!" Sora shouted. "If you were, you'd admire Herc's courage."

"I don't admire one guy jumping into danger if it means someone else might have to jump in to save him," Xigbar replied, turning away again. "You're all just lining up to lose out. Dooming others to take the fall with ya." He looked over his shoulder at the group. "Oh, and you can spare me the usual party line. Yes, hearts are powerful when they're connected. But if you put too much of that power in one place, some of those hearts might end up breaking." He turned again and pointed at Sora. "Still, Sora, that doesn't mean you should change. Accept the power you're given. Find the hearts joined to yours."

"Why would I ever take advice from _you_?!" Sora shot back harshly.

"As if! You don't have any choice but to follow this sweet little trail of bread crumbs." Xigbar turned and began to walk away, lifting his hand to create another dark portal. "And at the end, you'll finally realize what destiny has in store for you. For all of you." He stopped walking. "In fact, your reward might be right around the corner. You're so close!" He continued toward the portal and glanced over his shoulder one last time right as he began to enter it, locking eyes with Aila again. "I told you I'd ruin you. Take a good look around — it's all downhill from here, _kid_."

He disappeared into the portal, leaving the gang very on edge.

"Hearts breaking…? Whose hearts?" Sora mumbled, letting his Keyblade fall a bit but seeming unwilling to let it fade.

"Aw, don't let him bother ya, Sora," Goofy said confidently. "He's just tryin' ta get under our skin 'cause he thinks he can! But we'll prove him wrong." He placed a hand on Aila's shoulder. "Don't you worry Aila, we'll get this thing off o' ya, and we'll help Sora find his strength again, too! Everythin' will be back to normal in no time."

Aila smiled a little at him, resisting the urge to try and say anything.

Sora turned to face them and smiled a little as well. "You're right. We'll show him that our sacrifices haven't been for nothing."

Goofy nodded. "Mm-hmm! Besides, we're already proof enough!"

"Yeah, we're a team!" Donald agreed. "When we're together, we can do anything!" He looked meaningfully back and forth between Aila and Sora. "Isn't that right?"

Aila looked to Sora, remembering the fight they'd been kind of in the middle of. He met her gaze and frowned. "Yeah. That's right."

Aila balled her fists and opened her mouth to ask why, if he wasn't trying to make her feel like she wasn't a part of the team, he was acting so weird whenever it came up? But Donald hurriedly waved his hands over his head to get her attention. "Don't, Aila!"

Aila recoiled and shut her mouth, remembering the consequences of speaking yet again. She glared at the floor, frustrated at her inability to communicate.

Sora hesitated for a few seconds and then took her hand in his. "Listen… Aila, I have something… Something I need to tell you." Aila looked up at him, startled to see such a distraught look on his face. "I should have told you before, but… argh, I don't know why I didn't, but I should have!" His hand tightened around hers, and Aila suddenly felt a little nervous. "So… here's the thing. The reason I've been… acting weird, I guess… it's because, um… so… in the Dream Worlds… I…"

"SORA!"

The gang all startled and looked up into the sky to see Pegasus flying full speed in their direction, Phil riding alone atop him.

"Phil?" Donald asked, cocking his head.

"We've got a problem, a HUGE, ONE EYED PROBLEM!" Phil bellowed. He yelped as Pegasus came to a sudden stop before the gang, the flying horse stamping his feet anxiously as he tried to whinny something very urgent-sounding to them. Aila frowned, feeling suddenly very sympathetic to this animal that couldn't speak.

"One eye?" Goofy asked.

"Xigbar again?!" Donald gasped.

Phil recovered from his jarring stop and shook his head. "Who? What? No! Listen, Hades pulled another one of his dirty tricks! He got his hands on Meg and forced Herc to make a deal! Now Herc's strength is kaput for twenty-four hours!"

"What?!" Sora gasped, everyone startling at this news.

"Yeah! And then Hades sent his giant Cyclops Titan to destroy the city! Herc doesn't stand a chance now, he'll be crushed!"

Realization struck Aila like lightning. She remembered this part! From the movie! Things were back on track! She waved her hands wildly to get everyone's attention, remembering not to talk but having _no_ idea how to convey 'The deal can be broken!' without the use of her voice.

"You know what to do?" Donald asked. Aila nodded wildly, but then hesitated. Meg needed to get hurt — if the deal was the same as in the movie, then Hades promised that 'no harm' would come to her. But what did that mean? Could she just, like, stub a toe or something? Or did it have to be a life threatening injury? Because… that wasn't a great plan…

"Spit it out, will ya?!" Phil said, his patience clearly wearing thin.

"She can't!" Donald shot back.

"Hades paid us a visit, too," Sora elaborated darkly. "Aila can't speak."

Phil grumbled. "Well we don't have time for charades! We gotta help Herc, NOW!"

Aila ran a hand down her face, intensely frustrated. This sucked! Looked like Xigbar was spot on with his stupid trick — not being able to talk right now _was_ a huge problem.

"Phil's right, we gotta go," Sora agreed.

Pegasus took off as soon as the words left Sora's mouth, eager to get moving. "We'll show you the way!" Phil called. "Get the lead out, come on!"

Sora turned to Aila. "Aila, are you—?"

Aila held up a hand in his face and shot him a harsh glare. Just because she couldn't speak didn't mean she couldn't fight. Herc needed help! And maybe she could figure out a way to tell him that there was a loophole… She shook her head, shaking away any doubt Hades's trap had planted in her. She could be useful, she could still fight!

She took off after Pegasus, the boys scrambling to follow. Thankfully, there was no further discussion. But even as Aila's shoes pounded the pavement and her heart pumped adrenaline through her veins, she couldn't help a spark of unease growing deep within her chest. She stole a glance over her shoulder at Sora, unable to help herself as the group ran toward their next battle.

Sora… What exactly had he been about to tell her…?

KHKHKH

I'm trying to loop the movie plot back in a bit to make this whole world make more sense. The way it goes in the game… Hades is kinda stupid. And I don't like that; I like my villains smart!

Please let me know what you think in a review! I'll try really hard to be quicker for the next chapter — this one required a lot of research (I even researched Greek gods lol) so now that I've done all that hopefully it'll go faster. Your feedback keeps me motivated, so thank you again to everyone who reviews!

Until next time!

~Fade


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